Dive into the Heart
by finem
Summary: Roxas dreams of Sora, and Sora dreams of other worlds. Neither know what their dreams mean, but when they meet, they discover that some dreams are real, and that their destiny is a secret buried deep within their own hearts.
1. Destati

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine; don't sue. Characters and track titles belong to Disney/Square-Enix.

**Notes:** So here I am distracted from my other stories because of this one that has been formulating in my head for a while and just wouldn't stay quiet any more. Since this is less of an experiment than any of my other stories in progress, it seems to be willing to flow far more easily and so this is what I've been working on instead of the other things…Stab me if you have to. Chapters are much shorter so far, but I don't really have set lengths, so that may or may not change. I've wanted to do something that plays with the natures of these characters in a magical context for a while, so…well, here's what happened. I'm having tons of fun with this, so I hope you enjoy it too!

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 1: -Destati-**

I dreamed of him again last night; the boy with eyes born of the sky whose laugher was made of light and whose smiles could put the sun to shame.

Not for the first time, and I'm sure not for the last, I woke wondering about this boy named Sora. Who is he? Why am I always dreaming about him? Is he even real, or is he, as my sister likes to put it, 'just a figment of my overactive imagination'? I still can't figure it out, but every day that passes and every dream I have makes me feel like…like there's something I should know about him. Like there's something there that I just forgot, and the harder I try to get the memory back, the further away from me it flutters. I used to be able to ignore it. Lately, it's been bugging me more and more.

I just can't let it go anymore.

The dreams began maybe…4 years ago I guess. I still remember the first one I had. I didn't think anything of it at first. I had dreamed of the beach before, so there really wasn't anything strange about the waves and the sand and the sea gulls overhead. The plants and stuff were way more tropical than anything we have around Twilight Town, but it all passed under the laws of dream-logic. Even when my two 'friends' showed up calling me 'Sora,' mocking me for being lazy and challenging me to fights and races, there was nothing strange.

Ah, the magic of dream-logic.

It was really the best dream I'd ever had . I don't know…there was just something so real about it. Even though in the dream I was seeing through the eyes of this Sora person, it was like he was me. I was there running around playing on the small play island with all of Sora's friends, seeing my own face reflected in still pools of water only with brown instead of blond hair, and there was nothing weird about it at all. Of course I'd told Naminé about it the next day, and she just laughed at me, but dad overheard and suggested we all take a trip to the beach and I forgot all about Sora and his island.

The second time I dreamed of him, I got a little suspicious. I mean, I'd heard of recurring dreams, but they were supposed to be the same dream repeating over and over again. That wasn't the case with Sora. This time I was at his house, playing indoors with his other friends while a storm raged outside. There was a kindly looking old lady knitting in a corner who's eyes seemed to sparkle every time she looked at me/Sora, and I remember feeling so at peace in the warm house, surrounded by friends. I was ten-years-old, and I didn't really understand what was going on, but it made me happy somehow. The warm feeling stayed with me for the rest of that day.

I dreamed of Sora at least once a month in the beginning, learning about his life, going to his school, hanging out with his friends, but as time passed, the dreams became more frequent. I dream of him every week now, sometimes two or three times, and the more I 'see' him, the more I learn about him, the more I'm convinced that he really is out there somewhere…and the more I want to find him.

"You're thinking about him again aren't you?" My head shot up at Hayner's voice. I hadn't even realized I'd been spacing out.

"Wha-what do you mean?" I asked, hoping to play it cool.

"Well, considering how you've been letting your ice cream melt on your shoe for the past 5 minutes, I'd say you're pretty distracted by something."

"Aw man!" I leapt to my feet looking down at the blue mess trailing down my hand and onto my canvas shoes. "You guys could have said something a little sooner!"

"We were trying to see how long it would take you to notice," Olette giggled from behind her own half eaten popsicle.

"After the first minute," Pence added, "Hayner figured you were in your 'Sora Zone' and wouldn't notice if Seifer came in and started beating you over the head with his Struggle bat."

"Oh….well…" what was I supposed to say to that? "I guess I have had Sora on the brain a lot lately, huh?"

"Yeah, Roxas, you have," Hayner said tossing a rag at my face. I grabbed it before it could fall and used it to wipe melted ice-cream off my hands while trying to salvage what was left of my popsicle. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you preferred your imaginary friend over your real ones."

"Oh c'mon, Hayner, don't be like that," I said through a mouthful of Sea-salt slush. "How would you feel if you became some other guy almost every time you went to sleep. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on with me."

"It is kinda weird how you keep dreaming about his life," Pence said tilting his head to the side in thought. "Have you ever heard of anything like this happening before to anyone else?"

"I never really had a reason to care before," I said, slurping the last bit of slush from my stick.

"Hey!" Olette suddenly exclaimed. We all looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Our Independent Studies homework!" She said with an almost scary gleam in her eye. "We've been slacking off all summer, but we have to get that done before the end of the week. We could do research on dreams!" Once I got past the gleam of obsessive-model-student in her eyes, I found that I kinda liked Olette's idea. Maybe I could finally figure out some stuff about my wacky dreams. When I really thought about it, I couldn't figure out why I had never thought to do research on dreams myself. It seemed like such an obvious thing to do now that Olette had said it.

"That's a great idea!" Pence said winning an approving smile from Olette who then turned her eyes to me.

"I'm in," I said smiling for her, and she actually let out a little squeak before turning to Hayner. He crossed his arms, looking a little disgruntled at the prospect of homework during summer break, but we all knew he would give in. He didn't really have a choice once Olette was in one of her studious moods.

"Whatever," he sighed, throwing his hands in the air. "But we start, tomorrow," I stifled a snicker at the way Olette's face fell. "Today, I've decided we're going to the beach! And why are we going to the beach, you ask?" Hayner pressed on before Olette could protest. "Because we haven't been once all summer, and I refused to let summer vacation go by without a trip to the beach!" Olette's brows furrowed a little and she gave a little pout over her thwarted plans for being productive. I wasn't exactly thrilled about doing homework either, but there was one small detail Hayner seemed to be missing.

"The beach sounds great," I told him, "but you're forgetting, we're broke."

"And _you're_ forgetting I'm smart," he said with confidence. "Don't worry, I've got it covered."

-:- -:- -:-

In a room, near in town, a girl sits, as she often does, focusing her will to connect to her other half who resides far, far away…

"_They're getting closer to the, truth. It's only a matter of time before they meet."_

"_Are you still comfortable with the decision to let them?"_

a small hesitation_. "Riku and I talked about it again last night. We're both firm in our decision."_

"_Ansem and I are the same."_

"_Do you think they'll ever forgive us for what we've done to them?"_

silence_. "Even if they don't, this is still the right thing to do."_

"_And what about us, Naminé. Do you think we'll ever be whole again, even see each other again?_

a pause_. "I don't know. But I think that if the two of them finally meet…anything is possible._

-:- -:- -:-

Poster duty. That was Hayner's brilliant plan for getting us to the beach despite our lack of funds. Poster duty, and a bunch of other simple but not altogether pleasant odd jobs around town. After pooling what little cash we each had on us, we figured out that we'd need to each make 800 munny if we wanted to have enough for tickets and snacks. Hayner was really excited about getting pretzels for some reason. I thought watermelon was more in the spirit of summer, but they're pretty expensive, and we didn't have a lot of time.

So we went our separate ways to earn our separate munny and I spent two hours of my life papering the town with Struggle posters for the upcoming tournament, hauling cargo up an extremely steep hill, delivering mail, breaking up garbage, scaring of bees, and – my all time favorite – whacking a ball around the square to entertain the locals. I was sore and exhausted by the time we were supposed to meet, and if it weren't for the weighty jingle in my pocket and the sweet promise of warm sand and watermelon it represented, I would probably have been well on my way to strangling Hayner for the whole thing.

"Roxas!" I stopped and looked behind me where I heard Olette calling. She and Pence were walking my way. "How'd you do?" She asked, a little breathlessly.

"Ta dah!" I said, pulling out my haul with a flourish. "3000 munny!" The shock on their face was priceless. "I really wanted the watermelon," I shrugged. "Now we can all share!"

"Wow!" Pence said with a grin. "It took me this long just to get the 800 we needed. How'd you manage over three times as much in just two hours?"

"Just lucky I guess," I said shrugging off the question a little uncomfortable. I didn't really want to tell them how each of the jobs had only taken me a few seconds to a couple of minutes at most so I was able to do several jobs a lot of times. I figured that might freak them out a little.

"Who cares how he did it, anyway?!" Olette interjected. "Let's go find Hayner at the station!" I smiled at her enthusiasm and nodded, agreeing with her.

I was turning to follow Pence and Olette to Station Heights when I caught a flash of bright red out the corner of my eye. A red that bright was very uncommon among the people of Twilight Town and I was curious about where it had come from. A strange sensation was filling my chest as I walked to the corner where the red had disappeared, and I looked down the alley just in time to see what looked like the leg of a familiar red jump suit and the back of familiar yellow sneakers vanishing around the next corner.

A chill washed through my body and for a flash of a moment, I could hear sea gulls crying, feel a breeze on my face and smell the ocean all around me. It couldn't be…

When I tried to follow the colors that couldn't be who I thought they were, I found myself halted by a hand on my arm.

"Roxas, are you ok? You look like you just saw a ghost." I looked down at Olette fighting to suppress the mild irritation I was feeling at not being able to pursue that flash of red and yellow. Whoever it was was long gone by now anyway, and I had places to be.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told her smiling off her concern. "C'mon, let's hurry or we'll miss the train." I set off at a run before she could ask any more questions.

Olette and I met Pence and Hayner at the train station. We managed to buy our tickets just before the train left. We made it to the beach for the first and last time that summer. The day was beautiful. I treated us all to watermelon, Hayner got his pretzels, Olette tanned, Pence dived, and we all generally had a blast. Yet somehow, through it all, I kept looking for a small island with a severely bent tree, a lone figure sitting upon it, and every now and again I would swear that the hair that occasionally blew across my eyes — the hair that for all my life had been a light, honey blonde — had somehow become a sun-kissed cinnamon brown.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

I'm not gonna lie…a big motivation for the end of this chapter was the fact that when I was playing KH2, I really wanted the Twilight Town gang to make it to the friggin' beach! So now they did…and I am happy.

Anyhoo, first chapter, short but done. Please let me know what you think so far, and let me know what questions are bouncing in your heads. I completely know everything that's going on, so I'm worried that as I write with the intention of revealing things as I go I'm going to leave things out without realizing it. It only takes a second to press that button and **review**!


	2. Lazy Afternoons

**Standard Disclaimer: **I wish they were mine, but they're not. Disqueenix owns them all. The plot is mine tho

**Notes:** So I meant to say this before but I forgot. This story is roughly based around the KH universe, but it is an AU. I am however trying to stick to the feeling of KH in that tight friendships will be the only overtly mentioned relationships. Readers are allowed to draw their own conclusions, but there are no "official" pairings for this story; Just a bunch of friends trying to not die a lot. That being said, here is the next part of the tale. Please enjoy this lazy afternoon.

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 2: Lazy Afternoons**

"You know, this might actually go a little faster if any of you bothered to help," Olette said in a voice that was coming dangerously close to huffy. I stared at her from the library bench were I was lying, offering a lazy yawn in response to her words.

"We might be able to help more if we actually knew what we were looking for," Hayner said, poking at a book as thought it were some alien life form that he had never seen before. Olette offered a weak glare before collapsing back into her chair with a sigh.

"I guess that does make sense," Olette said resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Well, this was all supposed to help Roxas figure out his dreams right?" Pence said from his spot on the floor across from me. "Maybe we should start with Roxas." I blinked at that. What did he mean by that?

"Hey, that makes sense!" Olette seemed to like the idea. "You can tell us more about your dreams and that'll help us narrow down our search!"

"I'm not sure what you want me to say," I said as I sat up from the bench. "I mean, I've told you guys pretty much everything already. It's not like I dream of anything specific, it's just normal stuff, just him hanging out with his friends, eating dinner, making lunch, going to school, taking tests, stargazing. There's nothing really useful there."

"hmmm…" I recognized Olette's deep in thought pose and took the opportunity to lay back down on my bench. "Well…maybe we can start with looking up dreams about life." I spaced out a little as Olette set to furiously typing in search commands to the Library's computer. It didn't take her long to find that there weren't any entries that matched what she was looking for.

"Hmm…" she said and I could almost hear her quirking her lips in thought.

"Maybe if you just start talking, it'll give us more ideas," Pence offered. Olette readily agreed.

"I thought this was homework not therapy," Hayner said, lying on his own bench near Olette.

"We're not doctors so this can't count as therapy," Olette said logically. We're just asking Roxas to help us figure out what we need to look for in the library."

"And I really don't mind," I offered. Hayner was bored which meant that he'd probably start an argument just so he'd have something more interesting to do. "What do you want me to say?"

"Just tell us about him again," Pence said. "Tell us everything you can remember about your dreams.' And so I did. I talked about Sora's two best friends, Riku and Kairi; about the old little house where he lived with them and three other kids as a kind of foster family. I talked about the kindly older woman who cared for them and how everyone just called her Godmom or Gran or some other familiar term. I told them about the stories Sora would tell of adventures on other worlds; how his friends would just look at him with patience like they were humoring him, but the funny thing was…I believed everything Sora said. Just as I was sure that Sora was really out there somewhere, I knew that the worlds he spoke of were more than just his imagination as well. And then there was the other thing…

"It's funny," I told them, not even really caring if they were listening or not. "I feel so calm when I dream about him…like everything is, I don't know, supposed to be that way. But sometimes, when I'm awake and just wondering around, I get these weird feelings. It's like…" I paused struggling to find the right words. "It's like, suffocating. Sometimes it feels like I can't breathe even thought I'm breathing fine. Or it feels like I'm bleeding to death slowly, but I know that I'm not hurt anywhere. I don't know…I can't explain it right, but when I get those weird feelings, for some reason, I think of Sora, and then everything feels right again…"

"Ok, you've just officially ventured into the realm of freaky, Rox." I snapped my head in Hayner's direction finally coming back to my self. What had I just been rambling off to them? They probably did all think I was a freak now.

"Ignore him, Roxas," Olette told me walking over to wack Hayner's head. Despite his offended shout, she settled down next to him in a squat. "Y'know. Sometimes I feel like that too." Everything seemed to go still as she talked, all of us listening intently. "It's like the world is falling apart or something, and we're all left just drifting…"

"And the more we drift the more lost we become." All eyes turned to Pence as he spoke, and a strange sense of dawning filled me as I realized that I was not the only one feeling these things.

"I think you've all been watching too much TV," Hayner said, but there was something in his voice that I didn't quite believe; something that said that he was feeling it too.

We sat in silence for a long while, lost in our own worlds then the bell tower began to ring the hour and we all snapped out of it.

"Well," Olette began with a small shrug, "that didn't really get us anywhere, but we still have some books we can look at. How about this. We'll each take a book or two home and think about what we want to write and then we can talk about our ideas before Struggle tomorrow."

"Aw man!" none of us were shocked to hear Hayner step in. "You can't make us do homework before Struggle! It'll jinx the match!"

"Like that's even possible, you guys beat on each other with big blue foam bats, doesn't exactly take too many brain cells."

"It's all about the mood and attitude. Roxas and I already agreed that one of us would win and that we would all share the reward. Don't you want to help us make that dream a reality?"

"Hayner, you're hopeless," Olette laughed, but Hayner just smiled at her. He knew he had won. "Whatever. We can take tomorrow off for the match, but after tomorrow, no more goofing off. We have to get this assignment done."

"We'll get it done," Hayner said with his usual confidence. "As long as we stick together, we can do anything, right?" We all couldn't help but laugh at him. For all of his tough guy posing, Hayner really was just a big softie. It's why we got along with him even when he was being a jerk.

"What?" he asked, confused which only made us laugh harder.

-:- -:- -:-

Ansem looked up from cutting tomatoes as Naminé made her way down the stairs of their Town House near Tram Commons. She was holding her head, a small stress line creasing her forehead. Tell tale signs of 'long distance' communication. He immediately grabbed the bottle of aspirin and a glass of water for her.

"You spoke to Kairi yesterday didn't you?" he asked as she took the glass from him gratefully. "Has there been a change? Is there a problem?"

"Not a problem," she said, tossing the pills back with practiced ease, "just an update. According to Kairi, Sora's latest 'dream world' sounded suspiciously similar to Twilight Town." There was a pause in the conversation as the words and their significance sank in. It was finally beginning.

"Has Roxas told you anything?" He asked calmly, walking to the stove to check on the bacon.

"No," she sighed, "but that doesn't mean anything. He was too tired from the beach yesterday when he came home, and this morning he left to do homework with his friends. If anything's bothering him, he'll probably be telling them first. It's times like this that I start to miss doing things the old way."

"I'm sure," Ansem replied blandly as he spun the handle on the salad spinner to dry the lettuce, "but seeing as Roxas and Sora are likely mere days from becoming fully realized, I doubt Roxas would believe we were truly repentant were he to find out that we recently invaded the minds of his friends."

"I know, I wasn't serious." Naminé rubbed at a temple to help her fading headache move on. "I just wish I knew what was going on in his head right now. He's been spending more and more time with his friends lately, and real or not, I'm starting to miss my kid brother a lot."

"You could try spending time with his friends too." Ansem offered placing plates on the table. "You're not actually any older than they are, and it might do you good to get to know some, eh, more 'normal' children."

"I might, later," she replied with a rueful chuckle. "For now, I'm just going to wait to see if we survive what's coming. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that for better or for worse, when this is over, things will never be the same again."

"I should hope not," Ansem said placing a freshly made BLT in front of his mock daughter, "Things as they are aren't very good at all, and change is often a very good thing." Naminé smiled up at him ending the conversation as both felt a familiar presence approaching.

"Hey Dad! Hey Naminé!" Roxas said bursting into the kitchen from the side door. "Sorry, I can't stay for lunch. We're heading up to Sunset Terrace to check out some weird stuff people have been talking about around there." Ansem didn't even blink as he handed his 'son' the sandwiches he'd already prepared for him in a bag and Roxas grabbed a soda from the fridge talking all the way. "Should be back before late, but don't wait for me for dinner. Later!" And with that he was back out the door.

"Well, at least he's managed to lead the normal life he was supposed to have so far." Naminé said, smiling warmly. "I don't think you can get any more 'teenager' than that." Her smile turned a bit sad then as she stared at the door where Roxas had exited. "I almost feel bad allowing this to fall away from him," she murmured almost to herself.

"It's no our decision to make," Ansem told her. "We've altered his destiny enough as is, now it is time we step back and allow his life to right itself."

"I know," Naminé said turning back to him, "but I just can't help but feel—"

"You have nothing to feel guilty about. Your life has been destroyed by this as much as his. There is no forgiveness for what we've done to you, Kairi, Roxas, Sora and Riku, but we're working to make it right, or as close to it as we can manage."

"But--," Naminé tried to interject again but was stopped by a firm look from her father.

"No 'but's young lady. Now eat your food before it gets cold." Naminé rolled her eyes and sighed. There was nothing to do but obey.

"Yes, daddy."

-:- -:- -:-

We had a small run in with Seifer and his crew on the way to the station. He spouted more of his 'lamer' one-liners, Rai flexed his muscles a lot, Fuu was talkative as ever, and Vivi was…just there. Hayner rolled his eyes in my direction and I smiled.

"We'll see what he has to say after we _own_ him tomorrow," Hayner said, all attitude as usual. I just nodded, watching Seifer and the others vanish down the hill leading to the sandlot.

The trip to Sunset Terrace was pretty cool. Most of the stories that Pence told us about turned out to be something completely different, but it was still fun to wonder around the place, checking out the shops and the view from Sunset Hill. The sight of the ever-setting sun that Twilight Town was named for was pretty spectacular from there; even better than the view from the clock tower. We could see all the way down to the beach where we had been the day before.

Of course, seeing the beach and thinking of the day before got me thinking again about the flash of clothing that I thought I had seen. I had worn the clothes enough in my dreams to be able to recognize the red jumpsuit and yellow sneakers Sora liked to wear when playing around, but how it was possible for me to have seen his clothes in Twilight Town I still couldn't figure out. Maybe he was a kid that lived around here…but the places he went in his dreams were completely unfamiliar. So how was it possible that a boy I had seen only through reflections in a dream was wandering around through my hometown? It just didn't make sense. I had to have been seeing things or just made a mistake…

"Did you even hear anything I just said?" Hayner's pissed voice broke into my thoughts and I snapped out of my Sora trance to see him glaring at me accusingly.

"What?" popped out of my mouth before I could think to try to cover my space-out moment and that seemed to be the last straw for my best friend.

"You're thinking about _him_ again aren't you?! Why do you even bother hanging out with us anymore, Roxas, since it's so obvious that you'd rather be off dreaming about Sora?!

"Hayner, come on—" I tried, but he was in one of his moods apparently and wouldn't let me interrupt.

"No, _you_ 'come on,'" he hissed. "We spent _all_ morning in the library looking for information so that you could learn just a little more about your imaginary _boyfriend._ I figured, if we gave you that, you'd actually pay attention to _us_ some. Remember us, Roxas? You're _real_ friends? The ones you used to think were fun to be around?" I stared at him with a little shock at the real hurt I could hear in his voice. He was totally being serious and not just overreacting like I thought he was. Pence and Olette were avoiding my eyes, too. Did they agree with what he was saying?

'It's been _weeks,_ Roxas," he growled, again interrupting my thoughts. "You've got to make a choice. Either hang-out with us and actually _be_ there with us, or go off and dream about your _Sora_ somewhere on your own. Your call," and with that, he stalked off down the hill. Pence and Olette looked at me for a moment as if to apologize, but that didn't stop them from following after Hayner, leaving me to watch the twilight sky alone.

-:- -:- -:-

As always, the whole thing had blown over by the next day. Hayner acted like the argument had never happened when I tried to apologize before our Struggle match. He just told me not to hold back and took his battle stance as the ref blew his whistle to start the match. Of course I didn't hold back which meant that I barely broke a sweat as I knocked the crap out of Hayner and stole all of his orbs. Again in typical Hayner fashion, he grumbled something about how he must've taught me well and reminded me of our promise with a smile; as if I would forget.

The rest of the tournament was pretty much the same. I don't know why, but things like this always came easy to me. Fights with Seifer, odd jobs around town, sports and P.E., it all came to me like second nature, so when I was Struggling with all of the other competitors, it was almost boring how easy it was for me to dodge their attacks and counter with my own. About an hour after the tournament had begun, I found myself standing in the winner's circle, champion's belt and Four Crystal Trophy clutched in my hands as my friends and family cheered for me from the benches surrounding the sandlot.

I think that was one of the happiest moments I have ever had, and I can't even say why. I didn't really care about the stupid belt or trophy or title, but there was just something about knowing that my friends had been counting on me and I had managed to keep our promise that made something inside of me twist in an odd, painful kind of pleasant way. The fact that my dad and sister were there to witness the moment as well just seemed to add to the feeling.

After the crowds had dispersed and my dad had proudly taken the champion's belt from me for 'safe keeping,' Hayner, Pence, Olette and I made our way to the clock tower to escape the bustle of people still chattering about the fights and congratulating me. We took our places, sitting with our feet dangling off the ledge, just above one of the clock faces. I still had the Four Crystal Trophy with me and I looked at it for a moment trying to figure out how to share a trophy between 4 people. The crystals caught the light of the sun, blinding me for a moment, and the answered was obvious. I didn't even think about the fact that I was destroying my trophy as I snapped each of the spheres from their settings, tossed one to each of my friends, and tossed the left-over base aside.

"As promised," I told them, holding my blue crystal out so that it sparkled in the sun.

"thanks a ton, Roxas!" Pence said as he did the same with his green crystal. Hayner gave a small laugh before holding up his red gem, and I waited for the corny one-liner he was probably going to deliver. Hayner was just that kind of guy.

"One more treasure for us to share," he said, never one to disappoint, but I knew that he spoke from the heart, and I couldn't help feeling a little warmth spread through my chest thinking about how the moment would stay with us all forever.

"I have a present, too," Olette said, tucking away her yellow sphere, "for all of us!" and she pulled four unwrapped sea-salt ice cream pops from I don't even know where. I also didn't really care as it was sea-salt ice cream, and as long as it was present, all was right with the world.

I leapt to my feet in excitement reaching to grab a stick from her when movement caught my eye below. I don't know why I noticed the boy walking around in front of the station — it's not like he was the only one — but I did see him, and when I did, I think my heart actually stopped for a split second. There, walking in plain view of everyone, was Sora, red jump-suite, yellow sneakers and all. I felt like I was gonna pass out.

Unfortunately, I really did chose a bad place to be thrown off balance since I was standing on the lip of a very tall clock tower with nothing but pavement to cushion my fall. I realized my mistake too late. I could already feel gravity pulling me down, down, down to the ground where I had no delusions that anything would greet me other than a swift and messy death. Even as I realized that I was about to die, my body was flailing about, and my mind was screaming out to anything that would listen for me to not fall, as if that alone could save me somehow.

I don't know how or why, but my eyes somehow found their way back to Sora. He was staring directly at me and despite the fact that we were too far apart to be able to see each other's eyes, I felt our eyes lock, and in that moment, time stopped…and I'm not being dramatic. One moment, I was falling to my death, body almost horizontal as I fell from the ledge, then suddenly there was no gravity, I seemed to stay suspended in air for a moment, then I felt three pairs of hands grasping at me desperately, pulling me to safety.

A lot was happening in my head as I realized that I wasn't going to die. I don't really know how to explain it. There was this strange feeling of…blossoming(?) in the back of my mind…like something that had just recently woken up was finally crawling out of bed and stretching. No, more than stretching; going out for a morning jog, dodging bikes, cars and rabid dogs. There was just this pounding _light_ inside of me all of a sudden and I didn't know how to handle it.

I could hear my friends calling to me, asking what was wrong, worried, concerned, panicked, but there was nothing I could do. I was being pulled into whatever it was that was waking up inside of me and all I could do was wait to see what would happen next. The world began fading into white light and white noise. A single thought repeated in my mind. _I had finally seen Sora…he was finally here._ But even as the thought sang through me and I instinctively sought him out with newfound senses, it didn't take me long to realize that he was already gone.

-:- -:- -:-

I should mention that the Ansem in this story is the actual Ansem, Ansem the Wise. There's just no way I can see Xehanort, his Heartless or his Nobody as father figures.

I loved the clock tower scene in KH2. The four of them sharing that moment, Olette pulling sea-salt ice cream from her bum, Roxas falling off the tower like a loser…at least this time he had a good reason to fall. I'm sensing a theme here. I'm just using this fic to rewrite my favorite parts of the game apparently.

If you have questions or confusions, again, fire away! I need to know that I'm leaving out the things I mean to leave out and not other important things. That button is so tempting, I know it. Just click on down and **review**!


	3. Fragments of Sorrow

**Standard Disclaimer: **I wish they were mine, but they're not. Disqueenix owns them all. The plot is mine tho…mostly.

**Notes:** Next chapter! I don't know why but I'm really into this whole hopping perspectives thing. This one's shorter than the other ones, but I think things start picking up after this. Everyone's prolly confused, but answers will start coming soon, promise. Thanks for reading!

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 3: Fragments of Sorrow**

The rippling echo of unleashed power woke me like a bucket of ice water to the face. I looked to my left where Sora was sleeping just in time to feel him wake and release a shuddering breath.

"Hey," I whispered, glad that whispering was so good at hiding any emotion my voice might have betrayed, "you ok?" No response. "Sora?"

"Yeah?" I take back what I said about whispering. Sora was whispering too, but I could still hear a whole lot of emotion in his voice.

"C'mon," I was already out of my bed, padding quietly past Tidus and Wakka who were both still sleeping though they seemed a bit more restless than they usually were. If the still rippling shock wave hadn't been enough to let me know something big had happened, Tidus and Wakka's agitated sleep did the trick. Sora's emotions only affected others when he was _really_ upset about something.

"It's nothing, Riku. Just go back to sleep." He tried to burrow deeper under his blanket but I've never been one to not get my way. With a smirk that he obviously couldn't see, I reached down and pulled his thin blanket from where it was tucked under his mattress, rolled him so that he was completely wrapped in it and hefted him over my shoulder with ease. The kid was a twig. I'd probably be able to manage the same thing even if my strength hadn't been enhanced for my guardian duties.

"What are you doing!?" his hissed at me struggling to get free from the cocoon of blanket.

"Careful," I whispered back, managing to sound cocky even to my ears, "you'll wake the others and then you'll really have a lot of explaining to do."

"Riku!" My name came from his mouth as a combination of a hiss and a whine that I found quite impressive, but he finally settled and I opened the door to our room to slip out into the dark hall way. Now that Sora had stopped struggling, I turned my attention to the now irritated female presences poking at my mind. Reminding myself not to inwardly roll my eyes (they can tell when I do that apparently) I dropped my thought barriers to answer the questions I knew Gran and Kairi would be throwing at me.

_I'm handling it_, I told them both before the first round could be fired. _He seems fine, just a little shaken up._

_Well what happened?! Is he alright? His emotions are all over the place. Do you need me?_ The expected barrage of questions came at me from Kairi, and her anxiety flooded my mind as she continued firing away. I pulled back, hoping that my rolling eyes would go unnoticed. I received a ripple of humor from Gran letting me know that they hadn't.

_Kairi!_ I interrupted finally cutting into her scrambling thoughts, _It's ok. He's fine. I've got it covered._

_I expect that you'll be informing us immediately of any important developments, of course,_ I sent the sense of a quirked smile to our foster mother before replying.

_Of course, Gran. Just let me actually talk to him before I walk us to the other side of the island._

Her chuckle was a spike of effervescent jollity that rippled through me before she withdrew from my mind taking Kairi with her. I felt free to give an inward sigh of relief as I focused my attention back to Sora who was still lying limply over my shoulder. I stopped at the small dock behind our house where the boats we used to get to our play island were tied and set him on his feet. He sent me a pouting glare as he unwrapped himself from the blanket and I outright laughed at him. He was fourteen years old, but he still looked about 10, and the 10-year-old glare he always sent my way was just too priceless for words.

"So first you drag me out of bed against my will and now you're laughing at me?!" Now he was getting huffy, which unfortunately was just down right adorable and not the least bit threatening. It really was a good thing I was around to protect him, because there was no way this scrawny kid could stand on his own against _any_ of the nasties that Gran and her bosses thought might come our way.

I think he really wasn't taking too kindly to my teasing, though, because I saw a flash of real irritation in his eyes before he turned to walk back towards the house.

"Good night, Riku," he said, sounding slightly dejected, and I quickly shifted back to serious and grabbed him before he could leave.

"Hey, sorry," I said with a friendly smile when he looked back at me. "I was just trying to break the tension a little. I can't help it that you're so adorable when you pout at me." I took the opportunity to poke at his middle, causing his huffy face to falter a little as he tried not to laugh.

"Riiiikuu," he whined, finally giving into a tiny smile as he tried to avoid my poking fingers, "I thought you wanted to talk, not tickle."

'I'm just making sure you talk by threat of tickle," I told him, and I finally managed to get a real laugh out of him. "There!" I crowed triumphantly, halting my assault. "Feel better now?" He paused for a moment, pouting when he realized what I had been doing. There was nothing like a little laughter to pull Sora out of a funk. He already seemed a bit more balanced than he had been when he first woke up, so I took that to mean that I was doing something right.

"Yeah," he said, softly. "I do feel better. How'd you know?" He walked over to sit on edge of the dock, wrapping his blanked around his shoulders, and I followed with a small laugh.

"I wouldn't be much of a best friend if I couldn't tell that there was something wrong, right?" He accepted the answer as always, but I knew that if what I had been thinking happened actually had happened, it wouldn't be too long before he figured out that there was a lot more than friendship behind the way I could read his mood.

"So what was it this time?" I asked to move the conversation along. Kairi was again poking at me, now focusing her attention at my ears wanting me to let her listen in. I sent a thread of teasing at her as I continued talking. "Mermaids?" _Did you want something, Kairi?_ "Sea witches?" _Oh, wait, I can't hear you._ "Flying elephants with little mouse friends?" Kairi was getting huffy by now, so with a final inward flash of humor, I allowed her past my sound barriers just as Sora spoke words that smothered both my humor and her irritation instantly.

"A boy almost died," he said, and I felt the pulse of some unnamable emotion roll from him. "It was so _weird,_ Riku. I was just wandering around that town I told you guys about the other day, looking for someone who could see me, then it felt like someone said my name, only it was in my head…like I was thinking it or something. Then I looked up for no apparent reason and there were these kids sitting up on this clock tower and one of them was standing and lost his balance and was falling and I thought that I was about watch him splatter all over the ground right in front of me."

"But he didn't, right?" I asked a sneaking suspicion spreading through my chest. I could feel Kairi thinking the same thing.

"That's where it gets _really_ weird," Sora said. He was looking out at the full moon that now was hanging low on the horizon, lost in his thoughts. "I looked up at him as he started to fall, and the he looked at me and…I don't know what happened. It's like we connected some how, and he didn't want to fall and I didn't want him to fall and he just…stopped falling."

"What do you mean he 'stopped falling'?"

"Just what I said. He was falling and then he stopped. He was just frozen in mid air for a second, and then his friends had him and I lost eye contact and everything was just…wrong. No, not wrong really, or at least no more wrong than things had always been, it was just like…like remembering something I wasn't supposed to forget, and then I freaked out or something and woke up.

Silence fell between us as we both sat lost in thought. For my part, the thoughts were not my own alone. Kairi and I were of one mind.

Sora had finally made contact with Roxas.

I felt Kairi's heart sink a little even as I tried to not let mine do the same. Any day now, our quiet lives on the Destiny Islands would completely fall apart and we would all have to face the consequences of our actions. I had no doubts that the ones who placed us here to begin with would have our heads for letting this happen, but it didn't matter. Sora was all I cared about, and I know that the others felt the same.

"I know you guys don't believe that my dreams mean anything or that the places I visit are even real," Sora began quietly, breaking the silence, "but that boy, that place…everything in me is screaming that it really happened. Even now…I can still feel the difference in how things feel now and how they felt before we connected. It's like there are shadows everywhere that I couldn't see until now; sorrow that feels like it's coming from everywhere and no where at once, and inside…" he paused closing his eyes and lowering his head as though concentrating on something or trying to get his words right.

"It feels like there something missing," he said, "but I can't figure out what. I can't believe that my imagination would be able to do all of these things on its own." He was looking at me now and there was desperation in his eyes and confusion, too. He was looking to me to make it better as I always had. If I told him that it was just a dream and he shouldn't worry about it, he would do just that, forcing the feelings away as we had made him do so many times before.

A wave of disgust passed through me resonating with the guilt Kairi was radiating and I quickly closed off my barriers to her focusing my attention fully on Sora, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his full attention as well.

"Sora," I began, ignoring Kairi's insistent prodding. "We've spent our entire lives together here on this island, right? Just you me and Kairi even after Gran took the others in." He gave a cautious nod, looking at me as though he were waiting for a punch line or something. I ignored his doubt of my sincerity and just kept going. "Look, you're my best friend, practically my brother, and I've always done my best to look out for you, so I need you to listen to me now, alright? And don't ever forget this." He nodded again, confusion clear on his face. Normally, I'd be joking and laughing with him by this point, making sure to take his mind off of the dream and help him be happy again, but things were changing. I wasn't sure that I'd be around much longer to watch his back so he needed to understand this before it was too late. And so, at risk of sounding like a bad Hallwark card, I kept going.

"No matter what anyone else tells you," I said looking him firmly in the eyes and holding him by both shoulders, "no matter how lost you become or how confused, trust your heart." A fond smirk pulled at my lips as his brows drew sharply together. I lifted a hand to muss his already messy hair. "It'll never steer you wrong."

"Riku…?" he trailed of, a completely baffled look gracing his features. I'm pretty sure that he was trying to figure out what it was he wanted to say. He'd been expecting an easy answer from me, I think; a 'yes' or 'no' that would ease his thoughts and let him rest peacefully again. I couldn't give that to him. Things were about to get a whole lot more difficult for all of us, and I think he sensed it too.

"I'm gonna go back and find him again tonight," he said decisively, and I repressed the shudder of grief his words brought on. I nodded once in acceptance, keeping my eyes trained on the sea before me.

"Then I'll be there to guard your sleep."

We sat in silence for a long time just looking out across the water. After a while, the sky began to lighten. The stars began to fade and there was a line of pink growing at the horizon. We both stood and headed back inside as birds began chirping and the night began its end.

Dawn was approaching.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Oh the symbolism!!! Every time I read that last line I chuckle. If this were my old AP Lit class, my teacher would be going on about the significance of the last line being separated from the rest of the paragraph and the fact that this was a chapter about transitions and blah blah blah…not that this story is remotely literary or anything. It's completely for fun and nothing more. :D

If you're a fan of this brand of fun, drop me a line and send a **review**!


	4. A Piece of Peace

**Standard Disclaimer: **I wish they were mine, but they're not. Disqueenix owns them all. The plot is mine tho…mostly.

**Notes:** Wee! Moving right along.

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 4: A Piece of Peace**

Even before I was fully awake, I could _feel_ my friends and family surrounding me, ripples of agitation and anxiety brushing against my mind like static electricity. It was a newish kind of feeling, but I couldn't help noticing how I wasn't freaking out about it nearly as much as I thought I should have been. I cracked my eyes open to see everyone hovering about my room restlessly, and my mind did sort of a somersault as I tried to make sense of what was going on around me.

Here's where the poet would say something like "It was as if I had been blind all my life and now suddenly could see," but that's not quite right. It wasn't so much like I had been blind…more like I'd been wearing sunglasses for a while and then someone snatched them off of me. Everything around me was still familiar, just a whole lot more intense. I could both see and feel things I'd never noticed before but somehow, none of it was really foreign. I just needed a little bit of time to…_re_adjust?

Pressing my confusion aside, I figured that I should let everyone know that I was back among them. As I shoved the blankets away from me, my last thought came rushing back to me and my pulse sped up in excitement. Sora had been right there! There was no way the others could have missed him.

"Did you see him?" I asked by way of calling attention to myself. Hayner was the first person to kneel beside me, concern radiating off of him in sharp waves, making me flinch a little.

"See who?" he asked, and I flashed back to the argument we had the day before. I couldn't wake up talking about Sora. Hayner would kill me…

"The guy behind the wheel of the truck that hit me." I had to pat myself on the back for that quick save. "What the heck happened?"

"You tell us!" Hayner exclaimed stepping away from my bed. "One second everything's fine, then you almost fall off the tower, _then_ you totally pass out on us! I don't know what we would have done if you're sister hadn't shown up when she did."

"Naminé?" I asked, trying to figure out what she would be doing near the station when we had been there. I looked over at her, noticing in a weird detached sort of way, that she was different from Hayner, Pence and Olette somehow. With my new vision, I could almost kinda see the emotions coming off of the others in the room. There was a gentle pulsing glow around all of them, but Naminé's light seemed brighter than the others' even thought it seemed incomplete somehow. And then my dad stepped into the room and my eyes widened at the level of power that rolled from him. What the heck was going on?

"Roxas, you're awake," he said. Why do people feel the need to state the obvious when someone's sick? I never got that. Did he think I didn't realize that I was awake or something? He brought me a glass of water, which I readily accepted, coming back from that random train of thoughts. I was probably still out of it from whatever that was earlier.

I heaved a quiet sigh of relief when he turned to my friends and told them that I needed my rest and that they could go now that they saw that I was fine. I felt a little bad for wanting them to be gone, but I really wasn't feeling too great, and I just wanted to lie back down and tune the world out for a few more hours. They didn't really have a reason to stay anyway, so they didn't make much of a fuss. After a little gentle scolding about being careful and not scaring them, they said their good-byes filing out of the room with promises to see me the next day.

I had finished my glass of water by the time they had left and was already wiggling back down into my blankets.

"Roxas, we need to talk" my father's voice began in a gentle tone that should have told me to pay attention. Unfortunately, all of the weirdness was still weighing down on me and I was still working on that whole adjusting thing. I wanted to listen, but I was so tired. I just wanted to sleep a little and then we could talk as much as he wanted.

"Roxas," it was Naminé's voice that time accompanied by a firm shaking of my shoulder. It didn't work. I was already too far gone. A ripple of agitation from one or both of them was the last thing I remembered before falling into a deep, deep sleep. I didn't dream of Sora. I didn't dream at all.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora was unsettled all day before the night he had decided to head back to find Roxas, which left the three members of his team of guardians unsettled as well.

"I don't like the way he's acting," Kairi commented watching him kick stones around outside from where she was sitting by the window. "He's never been this on edge before."

"Well from what he told me earlier, it looks like he's finally feeling the darkness that's been seeping into the world since before we got here. His eyes and heart are really open for the first time, Kairi. Of course he's going to be a little 'on edge.'" Riku was also watching their friend from the window, but the kindly old fairy who was their overseer sat tranquilly in a corner working on some knitting.

"Sora will be fine, you two," she said in an almost bubbly voice that gainsaid the gravity of the situation. "What we should be worrying about now is making sure to get Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie out of harms way. Those three have a great deal of potential and we might need to call on them before this is all over, but that doesn't mean we should tie them up in it from the start."

"We know, Gran," Kairi said walking away from the window to sit in one of the comfy chairs decorating the room, "but we can't help but worry. We don't even know what's going to happen when they meet. What if they really do become something dangerous? What if distance is the only thing keeping our Sora the way he is? I'm not saying this is a bad idea but we have good reasons to be concerned."

"Speak for yourself," Riku grumbled from his place by the window still watching their charge. Kairi shot him a knowing smirk. She, of course, would know better than anyone how he was feeling, so it really was pointless for him to deny his concern, but by now it was force of habit.

"Well, whatever will happen will happen," their foster mother told them with a fond smile. "No matter what, I want you both to know how proud I am of you, and how sorry I am for all that has been done to you."

"Gran—" Riku began a gruff protest but was quickly cut of.

"Go spend the day with Sora," she told them. "I'm going to give the Holani's a call to let them know the others will be moving in with them tomorrow and I'll break the news to Tidus, Selphie and Wakka. Have faith, my darlings. Things will work out just fine in the end." The two younger guardians looked at their elder with doubt in their eyes but did as she said. After that day, their worlds would change, and they played long and hard making the day last as long as it possible could.

-:- -:- -:-

I was awake instantly and didn't know why. A glance at the clock told me that it was just after 5 in the morning, which meant that dad and Naminé were probably still asleep like any sane person would be at this hour. I apparently wasn't feeling very sane at all, so following that theme, I decided to take a walk in the cool morning air. The sun was sinking into one of its lower twilight cycles this month making temperatures drop a little, but it was still warm enough for me to not need a coat, so pulling on my favorite two tone pants, black sleeveless shirt and black and while over-shirt, I mad my way out of the house and into the empty Tram Commons.

I was adjusting to my new vision, though I will admit, the shadows creeping always just out of sight were freaking me out more than a little. How had I never known there was so much darkness saturating the world? When I really thought about it, there were a lot of things that didn't make a lot of since to me, and I couldn't figure out why I had never really questioned them before, just like with the whole dream thing. For example, where's my mother? It had always been just me and Dad and Naminé, but while there were plenty of pictures around the house of us, all blond hair and bright smiles, there was not a single picture of the woman who must have given birth to me and my sister.

And why did I never find it strange or disturbing that Sora and I seemed to have the same face? Even by the rules of dream-logic, that should have at least gotten my attention a little, but somehow, it always had seemed natural. Of course he would have my face, but I didn't know why that made sense in my head.

My thoughts kept tumbling around like that, getting me more and more confused as the pieces of my life seemed to fit less and less together. Why were there no baby pictures of me or Naminé anywhere? Where was the rest of our family? Why did Kairi remind me so much of Naminé? My head was spinning by the time I made it to my destination, and I was a little surprised to find myself at the steps leading up to the clock tower. You'd think that after almost falling to my death, I'd avoid the place, but it had a lot of good memories, and it somehow seemed like the right place to be.

I climbed the stairs slowly, soaking in the sense of impending…something as I reached the top, and as I stepped out onto the ledge where I always sat with my friends, I wasn't shocked at all to see Sora sitting there waiting for me, red jumpsuit and all. For the first time, I noticed that he was barely even there. The light from the sun passed straight through him, and I saw that he had no shadow. Was he a ghost or something? Maybe I had been Sora in a past life. Somehow, when he looked at me, sun shining through his eyes, I knew that was wrong. Sora was alive somewhere, but I still couldn't figure out how that could be.

"How did I know that you would be here?" he asked me, and I could tell that he really wanted to know. He was just as confused about all of this as I was.

Looking at him, seeing the same emotions I was feeling reflected in his eyes, I felt a kind of panic seize me. Maybe it was because I could see straight through him, or maybe I hadn't really completely adjusted to all of the very sudden changes that had taken place in my life over the past day, but the need to not lose him again became overwhelming. He was the key to answering all of my questions and I felt a desperate need to not let him go again.

Without even thinking, I lunged forward to grab him even though by all logic, I knew that I shouldn't be able to touch him since he didn't seem to really be there. To my not-quite surprise, my hands did come in contact with…something. Not a body, but an energy field or something that made it seem almost as if I was holding him by the shoulders. I stared at him in wonder. Part of me really had been expecting my hands to go right through him. We shared a split second of that strange contact, and then something happened, and I know that neither of use had seen it coming.

I think…we exploded. Well, at least that's what it felt like. It was like every cell in my body tried to run away and bond with everything around us at once, but there was something holding them back. Then it was like my mind expanded to a hundred thousand times its original size and for a moment, I just understood everything about life; everything about the universe; everything about well…everything, and through it all, Sora was there, and we felt everything together, thought everything together, and it was like we were one being and always had been and always would be and I felt in me that the united 'we' was and had always been _everything_. Then it was over. It felt like we had existed as one for millennia, but now we were two and I felt very, very small and confused as I lay on the stone surface my brain eventually identified as the clock tower I had gone to ages and ages ago. There was something different, though.

As I tried to remember how to make my tiny, tiny eyes function again, a hand grasped my shoulder, and my brain snapped back into place. I was just Roxas, again, and lying on the floor next to me…was Sora. Real Sora. I grabbed at his shoulders feeling flesh and clothing under my fingers and a wash of undiluted rapture filled me for reasons my too-small brain still couldn't quite put together.

"Roxas," he breathed smiling over at me. There was a beat of silence and I could feel the sparkle of his happiness dancing somewhere inside of me as he spoke. "Long time no see, man."

-:- -:- -:-

Silent tears slipped from Kairi's eyes as Riku held onto her. As promised, Riku had sat guarding Sora's sleep as he set off to meet Roxas again. As expected, not long after, Sora had vanished in a burst of light and energy setting off a chain of events whose end they could only guess at. Kairi had rushed in to the room immediately, Gran had hovered by the door. All they could do now was prepare themselves as best they could for anything and everything…

…and wait.

-:- -:- -:-

Roxas had been gone when they had woken, and Ansem and Naminé both knew that it was too late for questions or explanations. When the shockwave of unleashed power reached them, they rushed to reach its epicenter in hopes of alerting the boys to the danger they faced, but by the time they arrived, the boys were both already gone.

-:- -:- -:-

"_Number VIII,"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_The Key has awakened."_

A pause. _"I realize that, Number VII."_

"_The superior had assigned you to retrieve it for us. Do not fail."_

Green eyes roll, red spikes flash, and a black clad figure vanishes from a world that never was.

-:- -:- -:-

"This place is crazy!" I was walking along the wall of the bizarre room Sora had brought us to, but it couldn't be the same room because that would mean that gravity had just gone weird. Though, considering the things that were going on lately, I guess weird gravity shouldn't really have bothered me too much. Sora just grinned at me as he jumped into a painting of a pond and vanished. I blinked at the painting for a second before shrugging and stepping in after him. Nothing in this world made sense anyway. We ended up in a clearing surrounded by what looked like giant flowers. Of course, I knew they weren't actually giant. We were just little. Even littler than I had already felt.

"Man!" Sora said, walking over to touch the green stem of one of the flowers. "I've been here so many times but never got a chance to _really_ feel what it's like." My heart swelled in empathy with the emotions he was feeling. As soon as we had figured out what had happened back at the clock tower, Sora had immediately begun taking us to the places he had visited in his dreams. Ok…so maybe he had just grabbed me and maybe we had popped up in some freaky place that looked like the set of a horror movie…and maybe I had screamed like a baby when a walking talking skeleton popped out of nowhere, but the point is, after that, Sora knew that all the places he had been told were just "figments of his overactive imagination" were actually real. Of course we had to go exploring.

As we traveled from world to world, he had told me about what it was like for him before. He had basically been like a ghost. Only a few people could see him in the worlds, and he spent a lot of time just wandering around, looking for someone who could see him. All sensations had been dull or not even there and he'd been yearning all his life to know what the worlds were really like, even before he knew they were actually real.

Now that we were together, united by a bond that neither of us understood, I felt his yearning too. I wanted to visit all the worlds he'd always talked about in my dreams, see everything he had seen, experience it all with him, together. He looked over at me grinning as though he knew what I was thinking — and who knows? He probably did — then reach his hand out to me and I took it as he pulled us into yet another of the worlds he'd been waiting his whole life to see.

The experience of world hopping in general was much different from that first contact we made. It wasn't like expanding or merging or anything mind-bending like that. It was just a sort of cool wash of energy that sparkled against our skin, light and color swirling around us until they worked themselves out to become whatever place in whatever new world Sora brought us to. The one he brought us to next was dry and hot, full of sand stone buildings. Sora looked around the dilapidated room he had brought us to as though looking for something.

"He won't mind," he said with a bright smile, and I felt something like excited anticipation pulsing from him. "We can come back to find Aladdin later, I just wanted to show you this view!" With a flourish, he pulled back a ragged curtain revealing a sunset-lit palace of cream and gold shining in the distance. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.

We continued like that for I don't know how long. Sora took us from world to world, showing me his favorite places and occasionally introducing me to some of the friends he had made through his travels. Everyone greeted him with a little shock and a lot of joy when he showed up in the flesh and they of course shared their welcome to me when he introduced me as his "other" which was the best word we could come up with to describe our current state.

Eventually, we were both getting tired, but Sora took us to one last stop before we decided we had to head home and ask our respective parental units what the heck was up. The place he chose was an old castle that looked like it had been very beautiful in the past but had been abandoned for years. There was an odd energy about the place; something somehow familiar, but also cold and almost disturbing in a way.

"This is where I come sometimes when I need a break from wild adventures and stuff," he told me, leaning on the wall of one of the turrets where we stood. "There's something sad about this place, but at the same time it feels really warm, y'know?"

"Yeah," I replied looking out at the misty mountains surrounding us glowing with peach and rose, "I got that feeling as soon as we got here. Who lives here?"

"No one as far as I can tell,' he said joining me where I stood. "It's been abandoned for years. There's a town a ways over," he flicked his hand to his right, "and I have friends there, but they don't ever really come over here or even talk about it much. It's like it was once this great, proud, powerful place, but now it's just… empty…hollow."

"A hollow bastion," I murmured more to myself than anything, but Sora heard me and smiled.

"That's what I call it, too." I was a little surprised by that. I didn't remember ever hearing him talk about the place in my dreams. He walked over to a section of collapsed stones that looked over across a crystal fissure in the ground and a waterfall that seemed to be falling up instead of down and took a seat on one of the fallen stones. I walked over to sit next to him staring out at the strange beauty of the place.

"So what do you think is going on with us?" I asked, broaching the subject that we had both been avoiding. He gave a small shrug, not looking away from the land around us.

"I wish I knew," he said, and his heart was echoing the anxiety in mine.

"You think our parents will really know something about it?" I asked, even thought I already knew the answer. Talking really was kind of pointless between the two of us.

"Yep, I do," he told me anyway even though I know he knew what I was thinking. We sat in silence for a little bit, then Sora spoke again.

"You know, for all my life I've wanted this; to actually be in the world I visited in my dreams; to really be able to touch, and feel, and experience everything; to interact with _everyone_ and not just the few who could see me. But now that I can do all of those things, I feel like it will all come at a huge price. I don't want this peace, this happiness to end."

He was talking about how we had both been stalling the conversations we would have to have with our guardians. There was a lot of explaining to be done and we both knew that learning the truth would change everything even more than it was already changed.

"We should go, back," I said voicing our mutual thought.

"But I really don't want to," he spoke the other half of the thought. We both shrugged getting to our feet when Sora paused with a thought. "Hey! Do you wanna try it?" he asked. I knew he was talking about making the jump back to Twilight Town, but I honestly still couldn't figure out how he was doing it.

"All you have to do is concentrate on where you want to go and then…_want_ to go there," he explained answering my unasked question.

"Riiiight. If you say so," I told him. Figured it wouldn't hurt to try. We reached out and took each other's hands and I concentrated on the first place that popped into my head. The usual spot where Hayner, Pence, Olette and I hung-out. I focused with all that I was on going there like Sora seemed to do so easily, but we remained where we were.

"Jeez, how do you make it seem so easy?" I asked laughing a little.

"It _is_ easy," he told me brightly. "Just try it again." I never got the chance.

One moment Sora was standing in front of me smiling brightly and in the next, there was a flash of green energy that sent him flying across the turret to slam against a far wall.

"Sora!" I screamed racing towards him diving just before another blast of energy ignited the air where I had been seconds before.

"Insolent fools!" a voice like shredding spider's silk seemed to come from thin air, but I ignored it as I rushed to Sora's side. His red jump suit was toast, but aside from being a little disoriented from the impact, he seemed miraculously okay.

"They should have never let you live," A tall woman, dressed in black and wearing funky hat, appeared from a shimmering darkness that formed in the air in front of us. In her hand, she was clutching a black staff with a green sphere on top. "The fools who found you were warned that your power was too dangerous to be allowed to exist, but they failed to heed our warnings. Now I, Maleficent, Mistress of all _EVIL_, will take your power and use it to rule _all_ worlds!"

Freaked out as I was, I stopped and stared at the crazy lady who was babbling on when she claimed that she was trying to capture us or take our "power' or whatever. While she was talking, Sora had fully recovered and shared a bemused moment with me before grabbing my arm and shifting us back to the safety of Twilight Town. I'm pretty sure she was still talking when we left.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Ah, monologuing. Gotta love the villains who do it. Sorry to any Maleficent lovers out there, but seriously. I just finished playing KH for the 2nd time, and I just couldn't get over how…laughable she was as a villainess. I mean come on! "The Mistress of all Evil"? Who says that? She was cool for most of the game, but then near the end… And let's not even get started on her KH2 persona. Anyway. Our boys meet! In the flesh! Yay! And things are now officially underway. Next chapter will be full of information and a touch of action and this is fun to write.

Like it? Confused about something? Wanna make me smile? Just send a **review**! They're like magic! D


	5. Turning the Key

**Standard Disclaimer: **Not mine…I wish…

**Notes:** I've got nothing. This chap is informative, so hope you enjoy the information!

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 5: Turning the Key**

We ended up at my usual hang out spot, the spot I had been thinking about when I was trying to take us home. I could only assume that Sora had gotten the image from my mind while we were connected because he said that he could only intentionally go to places that he could see.

"What the heck was that about?" he asked pouting down at his destroyed jump suit. It had been his favorite after all.

"That's what I'd like to know," I said. "Clearly that lady had a few screws loose, but she seemed to know something about what's going on with us."

"Yeah," he said stretching, wincing a little as he pulled at bruised places on his back where he'd slammed into the wall. "Guess that's just one more question we'll have to ask. So you wanna do this at my place or yAHHH!!" His question trailed off in a cry of shock and pain as he was suddenly lifted from the ground and suspended in the air. I could feel a strange pressure around my heart, but I knew that Sora was feeling a lot more than that as he floated there biting back distressed whimpers and clutching at his chest.

"Children should learn to lock the door after they get home," the same spider silky voice from before spoke from the shadows around us. "Otherwise who knows who might follow them in and get a hold of something _precious._" The pressure around my heart increased and Sora cried out as the woman appeared behind him, her hand somehow passing through his body to clutch at the energy surrounding his heart. I could only stare in horror as Sora squirmed desperately trying to escape her hold, silent tears tracing down his cheeks.

"Let him go," I growled in what I hope was a dangerous sounding voice. She just looked at me blandly and squeezed. Sora's scream filled the air and I found that I too felt…odd. The pressure in my chest was not really painful, but it was extremely uncomfortable, and I found that the longer she stood there with Sora's heart in her hand, the weaker I felt, like she was sucking away my energy.

"Roxas," Sora's strained voice caught my drifting attention and he stared down at me with frightened yet determined eyes. He was going to do something, but I had no clue what. Before I could try to figure out his plan, he said one word. "Run."

I don't know what he did, but there was a sudden burst of light and energy, and the pressure around my heart was gone. I heard the woman scream in rage and pain and Sora collapsed to the ground like a rag doll, unmoving. As Sora had instructed, I ran…right over to him to make sure he was alright.

"That's not what I meant, stupid," he told me weakly as I rolled him over to make sure there was no gaping hole in his back.

"Are you, ok?" I asked, very aware of the fact we didn't have time for this, "Can you stand?" He didn't even have time to groan before a staff connected with my face sending me flying across the space and into the gate that fenced our spot off.

"Be still, boy," the woman told him harshly as Sora made weak attempts to escape. "You're only making this harder on yourself." I felt myself begin to panic as her hand morphed into dark energy and she prepare to plunge it back into Sora's heart to somehow suck the life and energy out of both of us. I had to stop her somehow. I'd just found Sora, I couldn't let her take him away already!

I tensed my body to hurl myself at her, but before I could, a burst of bright gold energy slammed into her knocking her away from Sora. The energy felt familiar somehow.

"Roxas!" I looked behind me in shock as I recognized the voice.

"Dad?" I asked, brain misfiring as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. "_Naminé?!_" My sister was rushing forward from behind our father to check on Sora and that spurred me into action as well. We both knelt beside him as his eyes rolled up to look at us.

"That was _so_ not cool," he said with a weak laugh as he struggled to sit up. There was a sharp crack of energy behind us, and our attention snapped to the source of the noise. The tall woman was attacking again, but this time there seemed to be some kind of energy protecting us from her. My head snapped back to my Dad and the world seemed to spin around me as I saw him holding up a staff similar to the woman's, but where hers was ebony, his was ivory, and where her sphere was green, his was gold. The power clashing around us was almost too much to take.

"Naminé! Get them out of here!" he called as he sent a barrage of energy blasts at the woman who hissed in irritation at the attack.

"You'll never be able to hide them, their power will be _mine_!" she called in a voice that said she wasn't the most mentally stable person in the world. Then Naminé was clutching her hands together, and when she opened them, a tiny spark of light was shining between her palms.

"Hurry, touch the light," she told us urgently, and Sora and I didn't have to be told twice. There was a blinding flash, like someone taking a picture at point blank range, and when my vision cleared…I had no clue where we were. I looked around bewildered by the large, dark room trying to guess at where she had taken us.

"Naminé, what the—"

"I know you both have a lot of questions and are really confused about everything that's happening, and I promise we _will_ explain, but first you need to got get Riku, Kairi, and Gran. They're all in danger and we'll be safe here…for a while at least." I just stared at her blankly for a second. How did she know all of this? Who the heck _was_ she?

"Roxas," Sora was stepping over to me, still a little shaky on his feet, but looking much better already. Our eyes met for a moment, and I could see reflected in his all of the confusion and emotion that was raging through me, but there was something else there. Fear…for his family. Naminé said they were in danger! Why was I just standing there staring?

"C'mon!" I told him and he took my hand with great relief. Instantly, we were in the living room of his house, which I had visited so many times in my sleep. The panic in his eyes was enough to keep me from drifting into any fond memories, but I really wished we had time to really see all of the places that I had seen in my dreams, but with the threat of imminent death and all….

"Gran!" He called, rushing upstairs to where all of their rooms were. "Riku!!! Kairi!!!" I heard doors opening and closing just as I heard rushing footsteps behind me. The footsteps stopped suddenly as the slamming up-stairs continued.

"You must be Roxas," I recognized Riku's voice immediately, and it was so strange to have them all looking at me like a stranger where I had spent so long in their company. Of course, they didn't know that so, I guess it was understandable.

"They're not here!" Sora's panicked cry came from the top of the stairs, and he halted as soon as he saw us together staring up at him.

"Oh," he said, cheeks coloring slightly. "You guys ok?" He asked a little sheepishly, tugging at the remains of his jumpsuit. I fought the urge to laugh at him.

"Yup, we're fine," Kairi told him, eyeing his wrecked clothing with some confusion. It seemed that everyone in the group thought it best not to ask. "Just been waiting and hoping you'd be back for us." She said with a bright smile as he made it down the stairs and walked over to stand with the rest of us.

"So you guys really do know about what's going on, then. You've all been lying to me all this time…"

"We can talk about this back home," I told him, taking his hand despite his dejected posture. "Naminé's waiting for us, and I gotta make sure my dad's ok." Sora snapped back to himself immediately, realizing that we still weren't out of the woods yet.

"Right," he said, determination flashing in his eyes again. "Everyone hold hands. Let's go." With a now familiar swirl of light and energy, the Destiny Islands melted away and after a moment, reformed into the dark room where Naminé was anxiously waiting for us. Sora and I turned to her after unclasping our hands but Sora's attention was back on the others in an instant as they each sank slowly to the ground clutching heads and chests.

"Gran!" he cried rushing to the older woman.

"Well, that wasn't very pleasant, now was it?" She asked in her usual bubbly voice. "We're fine dearest," she said patting Sora on the cheek and rising again to her feet. "We're just not used to being surrounded by that much power at once." I looked at Sora and I think the look on his face was the one I had on mine; totally confused. We never noticed anything particularly powerful about our jumps…

"Now, now dears," Gran said, noting our confusion. "We'd best be moving along. Don't fret about it just yet."

"This way!" Naminé called, and we followed her through a door, down a hallway, and stopped before what looked to be a large, blank, white wall. She stepped up to the wall holding her hand up to it, moving her fingers in a quick and delicate dance before pressing her palm to the wall. A large portal of light appeared, swirling and glowing with pulsing energy, and she waved us all towards it urgently. Sora and I were not-quite roughly shoved in first, and Naminé came in last sealing the portal behind her. I barely even noticed as we look around at the…place where we were.

I have no clue how big it was or how small. All we could see was white. White in every direction, and for some reason it sent my heart pounding in panic. Now that we had time to stop and breathe, everything that had happened was finally catching up, and I realized for the first time exactly what all of the signs were pointing to. Lies…all lies.

"Now we wait." Naminé's words broke into my thoughts and I looked at her as if I didn't know her. "Ansem should be here shortly, and then we can talk…about everything." Ansem. Not dad, but Ansem. He wasn't her father, which meant he probably wasn't mine either. She wasn't my sister…so then who the _hell_ were they?

I started as a warm hand grasping mine and looked up to see Sora's eyes boring into mine. Sora…the other half of me, though neither of us could figure out how we knew that or how it was even possible in the first place. It didn't matter though. We were back together now, and I knew that he could understand everything that I was feeling without me saying a word. He was feeling it too at the moment.

Needing desperately to have something solid to hold to as everything else seemed to be falling apart, I grasped his hand right back, pulling us away from the group and into the whiteness, then pulling him down to sit on the white floor so that we could talk away from them. I suddenly felt extremely soul sick as I realized, that until we got some answers, Sora was the only person here that I could completely trust. I think he was coming to the same conclusion, and he lowered his head to press his forehead to my shoulder.

"What the hell is going on?" It was the first time in all the years I'd dreamed of him that I had heard Sora swear, but it was appropriate for the moment. The exact same question was beating over and over again against the inside of my skull.

We sat in silence for a long time, just experiencing the oneness of our proximity. The longer I stayed near Sora, the more it felt like we should never be apart. It was actually really disturbing to me if I thought about it too much, but if I didn't think, if I just let things be, I have to say that I can't remember ever feeling so…whole. It's not really that I felt incomplete before, it's jut that being with Sora, bonding with Sora, traveling with Sora had awakened something in me that I never knew had been there. I didn't have to wonder if he was feeling the same thing because we were always of one mind. I was not worried whether he would understand because our hearts spoke the same words. It was weird, and awesome, and scary, but somehow right…and we still didn't get how it made any sense at all.

After not long, we felt a stirring of power and the swirling portal of light opened again and my dad stepped into the room looking completely calm and collected, like he hadn't just been using what looked suspiciously like magic to fight off a psychopath who wanted to use Sora and me to take over all of the worlds out there. Nope. It was just an ordinary day in our lives. Yeah right.

"Roxas, Sora," His voice had never seemed so…resonate before. "Boys, please come here. This is a conversation that is long over due." Sora and I stood as one, moving over to the rest of the group with matched steps and stopping once we reached them, completing the circle that they had formed."

"Naminé," my…not-dad addressed my not-sister, and she nodded. A moment later the space where we were was full of comfortable furniture thought it too was all white. "Please, sit," he said talking to all of us. "This will probably take a while to explain." Before he could go any further I stepped over to him examining him very carefully.

"You're alright, right?" I asked trying to calm the tide of emotions that was trying to take over inside. "She didn't hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Roxas," he told me, and it was the same voice he always used when he was trying to calm me down; it was his 'papa' voice, and that really did just about break me. I didn't have to see Sora move to know that he was at my side, and taking strength from his presence, I walked with him to one of the fluffy couches and sat down.

"Well then," Gran's voice broke into the heavy moment and all attention was immediately on her. "I suppose we should begin at the beginning." She and Ansem alternated the telling. Naminé, Kairi, and Riku all listened as attentively as Sora and I, and I got the impression that it was the first time that they had heard the full story as well. It took a while to tell, and a numb detachment settled over us as Sora and I listened. This is the story that they told.

-:- -:- -:-

First off, we should make it clear that there is magic in the world. It is very much real and very much all around us. Certain people are more aware of it than others, and among those people, there are those who can actually use it; call it to themselves to do as they will it to. Such people exist in all of the worlds, and some are extremely powerful.

For the most part, the worlds are unaware of each other's existence, but some of the more powerful mystics began stumbling upon the power emitted from the other worlds and so, learned of their existence. There is a man named Yen Sid who is the most powerful of his order and most trusted advisor to the king of his world. His world is at the axis of all others, the only world where most of the inhabitants are aware of the other worlds, and this world acts as gatekeeper, and night watchman of all others.

Master Yen Sid began noticing the curious seeking of the other mystics of other worlds, and taking the opportunity to turn things to best advantage, he called to these mystics, connected them to each other and made it so that upon occasion, they could all communicate with one another and notify each other of any odd occurrences in their worlds. You see, darkness had been spreading, and it was becoming more and more difficult for those who existed at the Axis to keep track of how far gone the other worlds were. The worlds were dying and the King of the Axis was doing everything in his power to stop this from happening.

There was a night when something very odd happened…something that would change everything. A storm, the like of which we had never seen before and have yet to see since, fell upon us. It was a storm that spanned all worlds, and those who were close to the magic of the worlds could feel its rage within our hearts. The most powerful of us shared a vision:

The sky opened up, and trails of light shot out, connecting all worlds. The paths were dazzling, shining brighter than the sun, but in their wake, there was shadow. Seeping through the light, there was darkness, and the worlds were flooded with it, but through it all, the sky shone brighter and brighter opening paths for light and darkness alike. The light became blinding, but then it vanished, and all the worlds were gone. There was only the sky.

When the storm and its dire vision passed, the King of the Axis world found a babe lying in the chamber of the Cornerstone of Light which was located there; a child born of the storm with eyes the color of the sky. He knew it was a sign. The King and many others there as well had shared the vision, and they were troubled. Unsure of what the events could mean, he set out on a quest for information leaving the child in the care of others at his castle. Master Yen Sid was left with instructions that the child was not to be harmed, but any other matters concerning the mysterious baby was to be left at his discretion.

Seeking to find out how the storm had affected other worlds, Master Yen Sid called a council of the other mystics and informed them of the events that had transpired at the Axis. When the other's learned of the child found on the night of the storm, they were ill at ease. Many said the child would bring ruin to the worlds and should be killed immediately. Others believed that he could save the worlds from the darkness and bring peace. Yen Sid chose to wait for his King's return before acting.

Many months passed, and the child's fate became no clearer to the King and his Advisor. A great power could be felt in the young boy, but power to do what, and to what end? All became clear on the day of the child's 1st birthday. The King's Court Magician and Captain of the Guard had been watching the child when he suddenly vanished. The court magician was a fairly skilled mystic and managed to follow the child's considerable trail of energy only to find himself in a completely different world, for you see, the child was a key, and with a thought, he could bridge worlds connecting them to one another and unknowingly allowing the darkness between worlds seep in.

The Court Magician notified Master Yen Sid and the King of this immediately. The other mystics were informed as well. All minds thought back to the vision. The sky connecting all worlds…darkness flooding…and in the end, there was only the sky. If this child were the sky in the vision, then he would be the one to bring about the end of all things.

The King was at a loss for what to do. Many of the other mystics demanded he be destroyed at once, but the little boy was so pure, so innocent, the King had a hard time believing that he could do harm to anything let along every world in existence. But he did pose a threat and something had to be done.

And so, it was decided that the child's power should be spilt. He was too powerful and therefore too dangerous to stay as he was, but there was no way to condone killing him, as he had done nothing wrong. Master Yen Sid tapped the child's ability to find likely guardians to watch the child and ensure that he would remain oblivious to his true purpose while keeping others from attempting to take his strength for themselves. Two mystics were chosen as well as two children who displayed unique abilities of their own.

There was a girl-child who already exhibited the ability to penetrate the barriers of heart and mind without damaging herself or her subject. This was a skill needed if they were to manipulate the child's thoughts and memories. There was also a young boy who showed an affinity towards the darkness, absorbing and manipulating it without being ruled by it. This would be needed to defend the child from others and keep dark energy away from his heart.

The child was split, his heart being separated from his power. It was believed that alone, the two halves would be unable to realize their true strength. The girl was split as well, her heart going with the child's heart to keep it from believing, and her mind going with the child's power to keep it from remembering.

Master Yen Sid tapped the child's power for the last time opening then locking paths to the Destiny Islands and Twilight Town where the two children who had once been one child would be raised apart from each other. They would never meet. They would lead normal lives, and the worlds would be safe…or so we believed.

Since then the darkness has only spread and according to the King of the Axis, there are worlds that are dying all together, entire peoples falling prey to a mysterious wasting illness, a cure to which has yet to be found. The darkness is winning. Many have lost all hope, but we believe that you two may be the key to defeating the darkness. And so, we have allowed this to happen; allowed you to meet, and from here, all we can do is hope.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Grahh…That was interesting. Hopefully I answered a fair number of questions with this, but if there's something you think I've missed, let me know and I'll make sure to cover it…somewhere.

**Review** please!


	6. Tension Rising

**Standard Disclaimer: **still not mine.

**Notes:** Uh oh…this is the last pre-written chap I have. Guess I'd better get back to working on this…or I could continue with other plots…maybe I should just schedule myself for stories to work on and in what order. Anyway…rambling. Read on!

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 6: Tension Rising**

Gran and Ansem had finished their story. The room was completely silent. All eyes were on Sora and Roxas, but while they were definitely the ones that mattered most at the moment, that didn't mean that the rest of us weren't a little floored too. Gran had been raising and training us for as long as Kairi and I could remember. She helped us both learn how to control our power and reminded us over and over again how important it was to keep Sora safe. She told us that there were things that might try to hurt him. She told us he couldn't know about other worlds because if he did he might accidentally find Roxas. She told us that he and Roxas had been split and had to stay apart because together, they could be very dangerous.

Dangerous. That's what she said. She never said anything about him potentially bringing on _the end of_ _EVERYTHING!_ Crap! Not even The King knew what to do with him, and she had conveniently neglected to tell us any of this for almost _13 years!_

But I wasn't going to freak out about it. I still believed in Sora, and seeing him with Roxas, there was no way I could believe that either of them would intentionally harm anything, let alone bring on the end of the worlds. _But what if it's not intentional? What if just them being together is what will cause everything to fall apart?_ I did my best to ignore the voice whispering in the back of my mind. There was not time for doubt now. We had done this, and now we would have to see it through, but I had no clue what that even meant. What were we supposed to do now that we had allowed them to find each other? And how could we even expect them to cooperate. If I were them, I'd be pissed as hell after hearing what had happened. How could we convince them to trust again after all we had done?

"So we have one question," Sora's voice broke into my thoughts and I focused back on him, shoving my own concerns aside. He and Roxas didn't look pissed, and on further reflection, they didn't really feel pissed either. All I could pick up from them was a sort of muted confusion.

"If you only have one question, we've clearly explained something wrong," Ansem said with a small chuckle. Twin smiles pulled at Sora and Roxas' lips as they thought about that.

"Well we do have a lot more than one," Roxas began.

"But this is more of a curiosity than anything." Sora finished the thought. It was kinda freaky how…unified they were becoming.

"Who named us?" they asked as one, and I was pretty shocked by the simplicity of the question. I'd been expecting them to ask why? There were a lot of 'why's to account for, but they had chosen to ask about their names. It fit somehow, and I found myself also curious about the answer. Gran and Ansem just paused for a moment looking at each other before bursting into relieved laughter. They were too good at containing their emotions for me to have picked up on anything from them before, but judging by their response, I could tell that they had been expecting the worst.

"Oh, my darlings!" Gran said walking over and planting a tender kiss on each of their foreheads. I always knew it was wrong of us to doubt you. She squeezed them both in a warm hug before leaning back to look them both in the eyes. "No one ever had to name you," she said. "We all just always knew. When you first came to the castle, you spoke to the hearts and minds of all who were there, and they all knew that you were 'Sora.' And when they split you in two, and you were no longer just Sora anymore, Roxas was born, still Sora, but not." We were all quiet for a while and Sora and Roxas took that in. I could feel the subtle shifting of their emotions just barely noticeable and not really nameable. I could only assume that they really were ok with all of this.

"Look," Roxas began as if he had heard my thoughts, "We're confused, ok? You guys just threw a lot at us, and we're still trying to figure out how we feel about it, but you're the only family we've ever known. Even if it wasn't real at first, you can't tell us that after all these yours together you guys don't feel the same."

"We get that you guys were just trying to protect the worlds," Sora added with a small shrug. "It still sucks, but we understand. And you let us find each other right? That's what really matters. Now we can try to set things straight, right?"

"That's the spirit, love!" Gran said standing up and placing her hands on her hips with a smile. "With that kind of determination, we'll solve this in no time!" I raised a doubtful eyebrow where she couldn't see me and got a sharp jab in the brain for my trouble. I glared at Kairi who was already glaring at me. She was sitting hand in hand with Naminé and both of them were shooting me Kairi's 'don't be so negative' look. I inwardly rolled my eyes only to turn and see Gran giving me one of her 'I saw that' smirks and I just gave up on trying to defend myself against the females in the room.

"So how exactly are we supposed to even do that?" I asked. No one else seemed to want to ask the hard questions, so I figured I might as well. "So they're back together; now what?"

"Come now Riku," Ansem began, "you should know that we would have plans. It's not in our nature to go into situations unprepared." I raised an eyebrow for all to see and it was Gran who chose to clarify.

"We have contacts on the outside," she said. Other's who agree with what we're doing here and have been gathering information on their worlds while we kept watch on these two. That's where we'll be heading as soon as where done here."

"But what's left to do here?" Kairi asked. I was with her on that one. Seemed to me that the smart thing to do would get as far away from where we were as quickly as possible and gather as many allies as we could.

"There's the small matter of the open pathways on this world that we have to deal with," Ansem said, and Sora spoke up before I could.

"What do you mean?" he asked and attention focused once again on him.

"We told you that in the vision, the sky connected all of the worlds and through those pathways, the darkness was able to enter the worlds," Ansem said. "Well, many of us have discussed the matter over the years and we believe that if the paths between worlds are sealed after they are opened, the darkness won't be able to get in and do harm. So before we head off to Radiant Garden to meet our contact, we have to seal off Twilight Town lest it be swallowed." I noticed Sora and Roxas sharing a slightly sick look, and Kairi and I shared a look of our own as our minds came to the same conclusion.

"Just how many worlds did you visit since you guys first connected?" I asked narrowing my eyes suspiciously.

"J-just a couple," Sora said with a weak smile. Roxas was doing some serious addition on his fingers and I suddenly had a headache like no other. Everywhere they had visited was even as we spoke being flooded with darkness. It would probably take forever to back track and fix them all.

"We'll deal with the other worlds as we can," Ansem interrupted calling attention back to him. First we have to take care of this world, and we have to make sure to get Sora and Roxas out of here unscathed.

"Wait, what?" Roxas asked giving up on his calculations apparently. "I thought that you took care of the crazy lady."

"Maleficent is not likely to show her face her again as long as I'm guarding this area, but she is far from done pursuing your power, and she is not the only one who can track you." We all once again quieted to listen to what Ansem had to say. He was the strongest among us and seemed to know the most about what was going on with Sora and Roxas.

"Listen carefully, all of you. There is little room for error in this so we all must be prepared to defend both of these boys with our lives."

"Dad, what—"

"Please just listen, Roxas," he said turning a very fatherly, gentle but stern look on Roxas. It was like Roxas had said; they really were family in the end. "There are those who are still convinced that you are too dangerous to live. They believe that you will bring about the end of all things and will likely stop at nothing to see you dead." The words were spoken bluntly and I could tell that he wanted all of us, but especially Sora and Roxas, to realize just how serious the situation really was. "There are others who don't only want to see you dead, but who also wish to have your power for themselves. You've both already experienced what I mean." Sora and Roxas both nodded, rubbing oddly at their chests and I waited for Anselm to enlighten the rest of us.

"There is a way to tap into the strength locked within these two," he said turning to us. "It will work only for those of great strength in the Arts, but those who know how have the ability to drain the strength from them and kill them both." He allowed another beat of silence and I'll admit to being a little annoyed by his flare for the dramatic. I just wanted to know what to expect so that I would know how to do my job.

"Enemies will likely attack Sora," he said placing a hand on Sora's shoulder as he looked up in alarm.

"Why me?"

"You are the Heart," he said simply. "Only through you can your true strength be tapped. Roxas holds within him the majority of your power and has greater natural defense. That leaves you extremely vulnerable until you learn to access the strength within you and use it for your protection."

"Great," Sora mumbled under his breath, and I couldn't help but smile a little. He'd just been informed that he was top target for a bunch of psychos who wanted to see him dead and his response: a disgruntled 'great.'

"Enemies will likely use their hand to attack," Anselm continued. "They'll create a conduit to their own power and have it take form around their hand. At this point, their hand will become raw energy and thus become the conduit. They will then attempt to connect it to the energy around Sora's heart. This energy connects directly to all power within Sora himself, and now that they're connected, within Roxas as well. Only once Sora's power is completely depleted will the attack have any strong effects on Roxas. Our goal is to not allow an enemy close enough to allow any of this to happen. If we are unable to accomplish that goal, we must act quickly to break the link. As long as one of them lives, both of them will, and as long as they are alive, and stolen power will find it's way back to where it belongs."

"That's why I feel fine now when earlier it felt like I was dying," Sora said, again rubbing his chest. What they were saying finally began to sink in. This had happened once already. Someone had their _hand_ wrapped around Sora's _heart!_ The thought had me seeing red and I caught Ansem's eyes as he met my own.

"Good Riku," he said. "Use that anger. Use it to protect him with everything you are."

-:- -:- -:-

"I thought you had a mission _Number VIII_," Larxene drawled putting a particularly barbed sneer on Axel's numerical designation.

"Bite me, Larxene," Axel said from his place on a couch, polishing his chakra. "We've been waiting for this for almost fifteen years, we can wait a couple days more."

"Saïx isn't going to be very hap-py," she sang, swaying into the library to circle Axel teasingly. "I'd hate to see him match his scar on your pretty little face." She cooed at him and Axel rolled his eyes. "It hasn't moved yet. If Saïx has figured out a way to ditch this place without the Key's help, then he can go retrieve it. If not, then I'm gonna sit my ass here as wait for an opening, and if he's got a problem with that—"

"Temper, temper, Axel dear," Larxene purred as she moved to examine one of the shelves. "I'm just looking out for your wellbeing."

"Well do us both a favor and don't" Axel told her. The blonde just smiled as she pulled her favorite book from the shelf and exited the room.

-:- -:- -:-

We were all on edge as we made our way out of the weird white space that we had been hiding in while we talked. The thing I noticed immediately was the almost over-powering presence of darkness. In the few hours that we had been talking, and prepping, and resting, the darkness in Twilight Town seemed to have doubled in concentration.

"Woah," I looked up as I heard the word spoken in stereo. Roxas was staring around like he'd never seen an old mansion before, and Sora was wrapping his arms around himself as if he were cold. Looks like they'd just been introduced to my world.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," I said with a smirk, and Gran sent me one of her looks before turning to talk to Sora and Roxas.

"Of course, dears, how could we forget to warn you about this," she said. "Now that you're both fully awake, your ability to detect the darkness around you is probably fully active as well. Is that right?" They both nodded. It was obvious that Roxas could see it. The world was probably fading of color before his eyes, and Sora definitely could feel it; the negative energy infiltrating the hearts of others in this world; the world itself crying out. I was familiar with it all.

"We'll work on helping you learn to block it later once we've sealed this world," Ansem spoke up. "For now I suggest we move as quickly as possible. Naminé?"

"On it." I looked over to see Naminé pull a small sketchpad from the air in front of her and raised an eyebrow. That was an interesting choice of weapon. I realized that I didn't really know much about Kairi's other half and was very interested to see what skills she had. With an upward flick of her hand, the pages of the book began flipping. I walked around her to get a better look at what was there and watched as the flipping stopped on a detailed drawing of a clock tower.

I watched as she ran her hand down the image collecting it and leaving the page blank before sending the book away and clasping both of her hands tightly together. I felt the spear of energy shoot out from her connecting to something in the distance, and when she opened her hands, a small spark of light was floating between them. Image Symbology. Made sense. Kairi's focus was Language Symbology and the two magics were complements of each other.

"C'mon," she said and we all hurried to touch the light. Instantly we were in front of the clock tower from her drawing, and I felt a surge of irritation as I realized that we had suddenly appeared in the middle of teeming crowds of people in broad daylight.

"Subtle, Namine" I grumbled, "Real subtle."

"Lay off Riku," Kairi told me, rolling her eyes. "We'll take care of it." As we all shoved our way through the gaping on-lookers and up the stairs to the tower, Naminé was already scribbling furiously into her sketchbook, allowing Kairi to lead her. I felt Kairi release a small ripple of power through the crowd, and then we were pushing through a door and stopping in the gear room.

"Right," Sora started. "This is where we first connected and first left this world…so now what?" Gran chuckled and I did my best to not look like I had almost fallen over. Forgot that Sora and Roxas we both still totally clueless about all of this.

"You have to close the path that you opened," Ansem reminded them patiently.

"Right!" Sora said brightening. "…and how exactly do we do that?" Ansem sighed, Gran looked slightly alarmed, Kairi looked up from where Naminé was still sketching, and I did fall over that time. I think we had all assumed that they would just know what to do once we got there. Never figured that we'd have to actually figure it out. Whatever. I left that to the grown-ups and went to see what Naminé and Kairi were doing exactly. I stepped up beside them and looked down at Naminé's sketch. So far, a very rough fairly crappy drawing of Sora and Roxas had appeared and she was hard at work on Kairi at the moment. I raised both eyebrows this time looking over at Kairi.

"It's us!" she said proudly, and I wondered at what she was so proud of. "Naminé's gonna draw us and then erase us from the memories of everyone who saw us just now. I already sent out anchoring threads to connect the crowd to the spell. All we have to do is activate it once the drawing is done!"

I was opening my mouth to offer my opinion of the likelihood of those stick figures serving as good enough symbols to represent us when I felt a sudden wave of…something. I'm not really sure what. I looked over at Kairi and Naminé again, but both were focused on the crappy stick figure me that was appearing under Naminé's… crayons? She was seriously drawing with crayons? I was quickly distracted as another wave of…whatever it was brushed against my barriers, only a little stronger.

"Did you feel that?" I asked, and they both just looked up at me confused.

"Feel what?" Kairi asked, Naminé putting her attention back to her drawing. The strange sensation came again and I just _knew_ that we had to get out of Twilight Town and quickly. Something very bad was heading towards us and it would be very bad if we were still around when it got there.

"Guys, how's it coming?" I asked stepping over to Ansem and Gran. Sora and Roxas were standing in a spot, foreheads touching and hands clasped.

"Sora had an idea," Gran informed me. "They're trying it now."

"Well we need to hurry, there's…something," both of my superiors turned to me with searching gazes. My affinity for darkness meant that I could pick up on things that the rest of them couldn't. Ansem's power lay further from the light that any of the other's but his still didn't compare to mine, and I was glad that they both recognized this and trusted my judgment on the matter.

"Tell the others to be on their guard and have Naminé prepare the next portal," I was told. "As soon as this path is sealed we're going to the second entry point then to Radiant Garden. We should be safe there. Our contact, Merlin, has many means of defense."

"Check," I told him, and walked over to deliver the message. Naminé had just finished her drawing, and was beginning to work her spell. I watched as she collected the image, then clutched hands with Kairi to pull it from the memories of the people Kairi had connected to. It was really kinda cool to watch as their power combined and they worked together to complete the spell. My power is focused in attack and defense, so I've never had the chance to study any of the more intricate and subtle magical practices. As the wave of power faded and both girls came out of their concentration, I stepped forward to speak just as another wave of weirdness hit me.

"Riku are you ok?" Kairi asked stepping over to me, concern rolling off of her and wrapping warmly around me.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "I've never felt anything like this before. I shook my head trying to shake off the lingering effects and looked up at Namine. "We need the next portal ready." She nodded. "And both of you, be prepared for a fight."

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Oh noes! What could it be?!?!? Next chapter will be fun…in the not that fun kind of way. There should be some action and another villain, and excitement…! I'm gonna get working on that right now :D

Not-Old finem had some fics, **R-E-V-I-EW**! And for these fics there were **reviews**! **R-E-V-I-EW**!!!

Onegai!


	7. No Time to Think

**Standard Disclaimer: **I often draw Riku and Sora, but that doesn't mean I own them unfortunately, or any of their friends :emotear:

**Notes:** The chapter when some things fall apart. Not really a warning, but be prepared for some mild intensity and the appearance of a new villain.

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 7: No Time to Think**

"Be ready for a fight." Riku was being serious. Naminé and I glanced at each other for a moment before she called her pad so that she could prepare the next portal. I glanced down at the image quickly noting what looked like a cluttered, fenced off alley somewhere before turning my attention fully to Riku, focusing on his emotions. I could feel his distress, the barely contained anxiety lurking just beyond the surface of his heart, and this more than anything told me that something was seriously wrong.

"What is it?" I asked him. I didn't at all like the way that he was responding to this threat, whatever it was. Sure, it would be the first real battle that any of us had faced aside from Gran and Ansem, but we were all well trained. Riku was always absolutely confident in his abilities. In a world with as much ambient darkness as Twilight Town had, he would have access to almost unlimited power and he knew how to use it. So then what could be so bad that it would have him so freaked out? I didn't know if I actually wanted to find out.

"I can't describe it," he told me shaking his head. He gave a small shudder and that sent more alarms going off in my head. "It's like…like I'm getting scrambled or something. I keep feeling this energy; dark energy, colliding with my barriers, but it feels…" he stopped and I watched him struggle to find the right words. "It feels like me," he told me, "but not. That doesn't even make any sense." He ran a hand through his hair and I reached out a hand to offer what comfort I could, but before I could, Ansem was there grabbing Riku's shoulder and my breath caught at the sheer _intensity_ radiating off of him.

"What did you say?" he asked in a voice that was way too controlled to mean anything good.

"I said that it feels like me," he growled shrugging off Ansem's hand. I could felt his temper spike at Ansem's rough treatment and I stepped to his side offering quiet support as Riku glared at the older man. We'd only really known Ansem for a few hours after all. The only reason we had to trust him was because Gran did and so did Naminé, but it seemed suddenly obvious that he was hiding something from us.

"What aren't you telling us?" I asked eyeing him carefully and paying close attention to his emotions. He knew what I was doing and he also knew that he wouldn't be able to hide a lie from me. He looked right back at me with a bit of an ironic smile, but before he could reply,

"We got it!" Sora's cheery voice suddenly cut through the tension in the air and all else was momentarily forgotten. "It's easy too, now that we figured it out, so locking the other paths should be no problem. We just have to do a little wading through darkness unti—"

"We're leaving now," Riku had walked over to Sora as soon as he began talking and guided him to Naminé's side. He had cut off Sora's rambling as the rest of us gathered around the portal. "And Ansem, you're going to explain yourself once we get where we're going." Ansem raised an eyebrow at the commanding tone Riku used in speaking to him and I couldn't help but giggle a little at it, too. Riku didn't wait for a response but reached out to touch the light vanishing immediately as he did. We all followed suit and I know that at least I was as eager as Riku to get some answers about what was going on. Both Sora and Roxas just looked at each other in confusion as they reached out to touch the light. I'd forgotten that they both had been completely unaware of what had been going on around them while they had been focusing on closing the path they'd opened. Well they would get clued in as soon as we got to the other path site…or so I thought.

The first thing I noticed when the glare of energy faded from my vision was Riku go down. Sora and I both rushed to his side, Roxas standing at Sora's back as Naminé, Gran and Ansem took defensive positions scanning the room for danger. Riku was gasping for breath and shaking so hard his arms could barely support him as he clutched at the ground, eyes staring blindly down.

"Riku! What's wrong?!" I winced as a wave of panic ripped from Sora slamming into us all.

"Sora, you have to calm down," I told him watching the others stagger under the emotional assault. I fought against the imposed panic trying to get through to him. "Riku's fine, but if you don't control your panic you're gonna make it hard for any of us to protect you guys."

"What?" Sora asked looking up at me in confusion and I focused on him, locking eyes and placing a finger to his heart as I spoke one of my prepared spell words.

"Control." The spell worked instantly and I watched his eyes widen in wonder as he felt himself calm.

"We forgot to tell you before, but part of your power is that you effect the hearts of those who are around you." During the exchange, Riku seemed to have regained his balance and was now struggling to his feet. Sora Roxas and I all helped him up as I continued explaining. "Those of us with power have ways to block it to a certain extent, but it takes strength and concentration. If you start freaking out, it's gonna be a distraction to all of us so you have to try to keep it under control, alright?" Sora was staring at me in horror as my words sank in. I could imagine what was going through his head. One stray emotion from him could lead to the death of any one of us. I shot him an encouraging smile, then Ansem was there ushering us all to a corner of the fenced in alley and suddenly it wasn't Sora's panic alone that I was picking up.

"There's no time for this," he was saying, "We must leave at once!"

"Wha-wait! Where are we going?" Sora asked clutching at Riku and Roxas who were one either side of him. I found that I again had to focus my power into keeping him from affecting the rest of us too much. It was good that we would be leaving soon because I definitely wouldn't be able to keep up with him for long.

"You've met a man named Merlin, correct? His world is where we must go. Quickly, before it's too late," Ansem told him and we all held to each other waiting for the pull of power that would take us across the sea of darkness that separated all worlds to the place that Ansem specified.

"Too late for what?" Roxas asked quietly as Sora began pulling us out of Twilight Town. The world began to fade for a moment but suddenly stopped and I had to focus all of my will to fend off the wave of horror suddenly screaming from Sora.

"Heartlock!" I screamed activating the emergency shield I had placed around Sora's heart years before. It fed directly off of my energy and I knew that it wouldn't last long if Sora didn't calm down soon, but I had to do something while we figured out why he was freaking out. It took only a split second for me to realize the problem and I screamed as I saw the bloody blade tip protruding from Riku's chest. Then everything went crazy.

The blade tip vanished and Riku crumpled to his knees, staring down in shock at the hole in his chest as blood began running from his mouth. I couldn't stop staring at him as he fell to the ground light fading from his eyes, but then someone was screaming my name and I instinctively cried out the command for a shield just as the blade came swinging towards me this time. The shied kept me from being sliced in half, but with my power divided, containing Sora's emotions and trying to protect myself, I couldn't defend completely against the attack and found myself flying through the air and slamming into a wall.

I fell dazed to the ground watching the battles as it began. Gran rose from the ground, spinning once and hovering as her clothes exploded into a rain of sparkles revealing flowing periwinkle robes with rose lining. The clothes seemed to pulse with power as she positioned herself in front of Roxas and Sora who were both leaning over Riku. Naminé was standing in front of Gran across from Ansem and both were facing a shadow that began to take on distinct features even as I watched. Flowing silver hair, a strong, angular face, piercing green eyes, a single black feathered wing and an insanely long sword whose tip was already stained with blood. He looked like Riku…but not. And I realized that it was Riku's blood that stained the tip of his blade.

Rage cleared my mind as I struggled to sit up, but before I could make a move against this new threat, his focus fell on me and I felt everything fall away as darkness flooded my mind and body. It assaulted my heart, trying to consume me from the inside out, and I fought with all that I was to hold onto my self. Even as I did, I could feel my consciousness fading. All I could do was cry out with my heart as darkness swallowed me.

-:- -:- -:-

Insane. In the blink of an eye, everything just went insane. Sora was shouting, Kairi was screaming, Riku was bleeding and just that fast, everything spiraled completely out of all of our control. Now I'll be honest, when Gran and my dad first dropped the news on us that everything in our lives had been a lie, both Sora and I had been completely freaked out. Shocked, hurt, confused, betrayed…we pretty much ran the emotional gambit. We understood that everything was going to change and that life would never be the same for us again. We even got that we should be pretty scared of the things that were out there coming after us, but nothing—_nothing_ could have prepared us for the degree of terror we faced after crossing Naminé's portal.

I felt something inside of Sora break when Riku went down, and I too had a moment. Not exactly the same breaking since Riku didn't hold the same place in my heart as he did in Sora's, but as things began happening I definitely felt like I was about ready to have a nervous breakdown. He sat on the ground cradling Riku's head in his lap even as Kairi went flying across the room. She had almost died, too. At the last possible second, Naminé had noticed the flash of silver heading for Kairi and screamed her name in warning. Faster than she should have been able to, Kairi had somehow made a shield that kept her protected from the blade that would have cut clean through her.

I think that's when it really set in for me. The fact that Riku was on the ground bleeding to death, that Kairi had almost been cut in two, and that everyone else was taking up defensive positions in front of Sora and me, prepared to die…all for us, to protect us, and as the dark creature took form before us all, I knew that it was useless. There was so much power radiating from it…him. I mean, I barely understood what all these powers meant, but I understood that this was no normal threat. He was going to kill all of our guardians, and then he was going to take every drop of power in both Sora and me…and there was nothing any of us could do to stop him.

I was scared. I'd never been so scared in my life, and all I could do was fall to the ground shaking next to Sora who was still clutching Riku to himself.

"No," he was saying brokenly. "This can't be happening. It's not supposed to happen like this. We're all supposed to be safe, Roxas," he looked to me, eyes welling with tears of despair, and I knew what he was thinking. I was thinking it too. We had to do something. We couldn't let everyone we cared about die for us while we sat there doing nothing. If we truly were as powerful as they said we were supposed to be, then there had to be something that we could do. There had to be.

Both of our attention was pulled to away from each other as a wave of dark energy crashed around us and we saw Dad and Naminé attacking the man who looked a lot like an adult Riku, Naminé pulling papers from thin air and Dad using them somehow to cast his magic. Gran was hovering above us in shimmering robes projecting an energy shield around us.

"You boys need to go!" she called down to us as pillars of flame suddenly filled the alley pulling Naminé and my dad towards the blazing infernos even as they tried to get away from them. The one winged demon was coming towards us, now. I clenched at Sora's shoulder.

"We can't leave you guys here!" I screamed at her even as terror turned my insides to jelly.

"If you don't _everything_ we've done for you will have meant nothing!" she screamed back. "_GO!_"

"We can't!" Sora told her. "We _won't_," and as our hearts spoke in desperate unison a familiar energy overcame us both. It was like that first time when we had fully come in contact with each other. Everything seemed to explode outward and suddenly, there was no more Sora or Roxas. We were a single mind, a single entity, and once again, We felt Our mind expand, and once again, We were _everything_.

Being of one mind, We looked down at Riku whose blood was slowly spreading across the dirt floor. It was not his time to die. This We knew. With a flash of something green, and fresh, and filled with the essence of life, his wound healed and he came gasping awake, shaking and pale. We turned Our eyes to Kairi. We could hear her heart calling out desperately as it struggled against the darkness that was so close to consuming her completely. We flooded her with light and her heart's cries quieted as she fell into a healing sleep.

The dark creature was just starting at Us, an odd smirk on his lips. We had raised a shield to keep him away from Us. A seed of knowledge somewhere in Our collective thoughts said that he could not hurt Us so long as he could not come close enough to touch Us. We would gather the others and leave. This dark thing would not be able to follow once We sealed the path from the other side. We just had to—

We were suddenly ripped apart somehow. It was like having an entire ocean of water come crashing over my head, and I was left shaken by the loss of that feeling of…completion. As my senses came back to me I felt a familiar pressure in my chest and looked up in horror to find…a nightmare; one far worse than anything that had happened in the previous minutes.

Sora was screaming, clutching at a blade pulsing with dark energy whose tip was buried in his heart. A swirling darkness surrounded the blade where it entered Sora's body, just as it had for Maleficent's hand, and I realized in horror that the blade was acting as a conduit for the bastard to drain our power away.

I watched helplessly as Sora's cries began to weaken, his hands falling lax to his sides and all light fading from his eyes. He was dying. The asshole was _killing_ him! I remember screaming Sora's name as I made a useless lunge at the man but before I made it two steps, the growing pressure in my chest became a screaming agony that took me down. I knew what it meant and tears of more than just pain began running down my face as the realization slammed into me. Dad had told us that I wouldn't be affected by the draining spell until Sora had been completely drained, and if he was drained that meant… he was dead.

_Dead_. I knew that's what I would be soon, too. The pain washed everything else away. It _was_ everything, but even through the pain, I could feel life slipping away from me. Everything that was me, everything that was Sora was being sucked into the dark creature whose blade was still stabbed through Sora's heart. All thoughts of the others who were with use faded from my mind; all thought of saving myself faded. Everything in me just seemed to begin to fade away…

And in an instant it was all rushing back in. I looked up through hazy eyes to see Gran engulfing the man in a cocoon of light, my dad clutching the blade, blood dripping from his clenched fists. It looked as if he had pulled the blade from Sora's chest with his bare hands. Already, I could feel the power that had been stolen away finding it's way back to us, and everything was starting to come back into focus. Riku had dragged himself to Sora's side, weakly shaking him, a look of desperate terror on his face. Naminé had moved to Kairi's side, singed and staggering, and was pulling her towards Sora and Riku. All I could do was stare dumbly as it all happened, extreme amounts of restraining energy screaming through the air as Gran and Dad both fought to keep the monster at bay.

"_Roxas!" _ My eyes snapped immediately to the source of the voice calling my name. My dad was using his power to contain the dark energy that was angrily pulsing from the blade that had come so close to killing us all. I just stared at him, still completely panicked.

"_Roxas! Get the others out of here! You're the only one who can reach Sora now!" _ He was shouting over the screaming energy ricocheting through the alley that was so familiar but now so foreign to me, but I couldn't understand what he was asking. I couldn't do what Sora could; I couldn't open the paths between worlds without him, and Sora…Sora was…Sora was…

Naminé was suddenly at my side clutching me in her arms and I could feel hot tears streaming down my face as my brain tried to make sense of everything. Sora was dead! I'd felt him _die!_ What was my dad talking about? Without him, I was nothing; I could _do_ nothing!

"C'mon Roxas," Naminé whispered to me. I looked up at her and saw that she was crying, too, a little shaky on her feet and a lot paler than she normally was under the dark smears of soot that marred her face. Her skin had an almost gray pallor to it. I realized slowly that I was being led to Riku, Kairi and Sora's side and something inside of me clenched painfully at seeing Sora's still form staring blankly out at me where he was slouched against the wall.

"He's not gone yet, Roxas!" Naminé told me through her tears. "You're still alive, so he'll come back to us, but you have to reach him now! Gran and Daddy are holding that thing off for us so that we can get you two to safety, but they won't last for long! He's too strong for us here, so we have to get to Merlin! You have to reach Sora and tell him to take us to Merlin!" I could only stare at her blankly, even as a sudden wave of dark energy slammed into us all and Gran went flying as her restraining spells were broken. I tried to watch to make sure she was okay, but I found my face redirected to look only at Naminé.

"_ROXAS!"_ She shook me a little to get my full attention. "Talk to Sora. _NOW, or we're all dead!_" Her words finally started sinking in as a ball of dark energy suddenly came flying towards her head. It rebounded against a shield of the same dark energy and I looked up to see a very pale and shaking Riku holding up a hand, creating the shield.

"HURRY!" He screamed at me, and it was enough to help me finally get my ass into gear. I wasn't sure exactly what I was supposed to do, but I just did what was natural, reached out to grab Sora, closed my eyes and called out to him. I felt hands reach to touch some part of me as Riku and Naminé prepared for us all to be pulled from Twilight Town. I called out to Sora, begging him to take us to Merlin; to safety, but all I got was a tired, barely perceivable flicker of his awareness. He was so far away.

I begged him, reaching out, pulling him, offering what strength I could so that we could save our families, and as the spark grew, I felt the familiar sensation of shifting energy as he pulled us out of one world and into another. I snapped my eyes open in time to see Twilight Town blending into nothing but a blur of colors; watched as my usual hang out spot vanished before my eyes realizing too late that neither Gran, nor my dad were anywhere near us and hadn't even tried to be. There was nothing I could do. The colors were already reshaping into another place; a stranger's home, and even as my heart began pounding painfully in my chest, a stranger's hands took hold of my shoulders, frantically trying to get my attention.

"You must lock the path!" he told me, but I shook my head in protest. If we locked the path then Dad and Gran would be…they wouldn't be able to…

The hands on my shoulders loosened their grip as I tried my best to stay calm. I could feel myself shaking in reaction to everything that had just happened, and I just wanted things to start making sense again. I wanted my dad. I wanted my friends. I wanted Sora to wake up and show me he was ok, but I knew that all of my wanting was in vain. Things had changed now, and they would never be the same again.

Fingers brushed lightly over my head calling me from my thoughts and I looked up into a kindly old bespectacled face with eyes that shined with sorrow and compassion.

"Lock the path, lad," the old man told me in a paternal voice that reminded me too much of my father who was still trapped in Twilight Town with that…_thing_. My eyes began to tear up again. "If you don't, their sacrifice will have been in vain." I didn't know what to do. How could I just…leave them there; block their only means of escape? It would be like sealing their fate…like killing them myself.

I looked around me, hoping for support from someone familiar, some idea of what I should do, but I found that I was surrounded by unconscious bodies. Sora's head was in my lap, Riku draped over his legs. Naminé was clutching my forearm with one hand, and one of Kairi's hands in her other. One man had done this. One man and his limited energy. If we let him get his hands on the full power laying dormant inside of Sora and me, I could imagine that it really would mean the end of all things.

The true weight of the responsibility that had fallen upon our shoulders the moment Sora and I reconnected seemed to crash down on me in that moment, and in the wake of it's near suffocating intensity, I felt a frozen calm settle over me. Gran and Ansem had stayed behind to protect us because that was their duty as our guardians. Their only purpose in life was to make sure that the power held in our inexperienced hands did not fall to those who would abuse it, and I had to accept their sacrifice as a part of the path that we were now set upon.

Despite my eerie calm, it still felt like a giant stone fist was pounding on my chest as I nodded my acknowledgement to the old man. Shutting my eyes, I reached out to Sora and asked him to help me lock the path connecting us to Twilight Town.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

ZOMG!!! That was really crappy…I mean I had planned for this to happen from the beginning, but still. I really kinda liked Gran and good ole AtW (Ansem the Wise) Hmmm…I might have them survive somehow…we'll see.

So…a few things about this part of the story:

I dropped a few clues earlier on and in this section hinting at Gran's true identity though I never went right out and said it. Anybody figure it out?

This turned out a lot bloodier than I had intended, but hey…it works, and it wasn't too bad I don't think.

The story really gets to get going now. The first tragedy has happened meaning that the gravity of their situation has been made clear so both Sora and Roxas will get to do a lot of growing up from this point on.

Next chap should be a bit sad, but fun. They start learning about magic, and as far as I'm concerned, that's always a good thing :D

Anyway, thanks for reading. Please drop a **review** if you like this story. It's a big help to keep me inspired and motivated. Oh, and the space between here and the end of the story is pretty open at this point, so if you have any ideas for stuff you'd wanna see happen, drop a line. I might include it.

Next Chapter: More familiar faces; we find out what was up with Riku; magic ahoy!


	8. Missing You

**Standard Disclaimer: **I often draw Riku and Sora, but that doesn't mean I own them unfortunately, or any of their friends :emotear:

**Notes:** This is more of a bridge than anything. Sorry for the wait for those few of you who are still with me. To those of you who have reviewed, this is for you.

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 8: ****Missing You**

Sora woke with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart though he couldn't identify the cause of either. He opened his eyes to find Roxas lying beside him, face mere inches from his own relaxed in sleep but still looking haggard and worn. There were tear tracks on his cheeks as if he had been crying before slumber took him. Concerned, Sora reached out with a thought hoping to understand what was going on with himself and his other. Things were cloudy in his mind; fuzzy and unclear as if he'd been in a long lasting waking dream. The last thing he remembered was leaving the clock tower…going to that alley place…trying to leave and then…white noise that stank of terror. Sora could feel panic rising in his throat.

Roxas was awake then, reaching out to clutch at the white shirt Sora was wearing with shaking hands as fresh tears seeped from his eyes, and Sora felt his heart constrict with sorrow in sympathy with Roxas'. Something was terribly wrong, but his mind wasn't allowing him to remember.

"I'm sorry," Roxas choked out when he finally managed to speak. "We had no choice…I'm so sorry…" That's when Sora noticed the hollowness inside of him; felt the echoes of sorrow filtering in from around him. Something had happened…Something impossible had happened and even as his heart knew, his mind refused to believe it. The very idea was ludicrous. I just couldn't be.

He struggled out of bed, swaying slightly on his feet as he made his way to the single door in the room. Roxas called out to him, but for the first time since they had reconnected, Sora ignored the other boy, shoving his presence in his mind aside. There was someone more important he had to locate. Where was she? Why couldn't he feel Gran anymore?

He was assaulted from all sides by an influx of emotions that he didn't understand. Sorrow, grief, regret, anger, so much swirling all through the house where he was. Where was he anyway? Part of his mind recognized the home of Merlin as he had seen it countless times in his dreams, but part of him was too lost for it to register properly. He stumbled forward following a path to the hearts that were closest to him and found Riku and Kairi both sitting in a room waiting for him, faces grim.

"Where—?" he croaked out, and they only shook their heads averting their eyes. It was all he needed. He saw the tear tracks on Kairi's cheeks, the stone mask Riku always pulled on to hide his emotions, and he knew. He had know since waking but hadn't wanted to believe it. She was really gone. Dead. Beyond his reach.

He felt the pain bubbling up from in his chest, a cresting wave ready to break, and he watched as Riku and Kairi both braced themselves for it. Kairi's face had gone pale as though she expected to face a great deal of pain and Riku's face was grim as he prepared to do what he could to support her through it.

Kairi's words from before hit him then. His feelings would impact everyone around him. If he couldn't maintain control, his suffering would be the suffering of everyone near him. Was he really so selfish that he would take away from the grief the others were feeling? Force his own sorrow upon them and how ever many other people were in the town happily going about their lives? He didn't dare. That just wouldn't be right.

He looked into the confused eyes of his friends, his family. They were wondering why he wasn't responding the way they had expected him to and all he could do was shake his head as he backed away from them, tears spilling from his eyes. He had to get away. He had to go somewhere where he couldn't hurt anyone else with his pain.

With a final shake of his head, he turned from them and ran. Rand out of the room, out of the house, down the familiar streets through the Borough over the crumbling wreckage of the parts of town still under renovation. He ran until his lungs felt like they would burst, ran until his legs could barely carry him anymore, ran as if he could run away from the truth, and when he couldn't run anymore, he stumbled his way through a familiar castle, up through twisting corridors and changing lifts. He pushed himself on until he couldn't go any further and when he got to the top of the castle, he let himself fall, giving in to the emotions he had held back for the sake of the people he loved.

His body shook with the impact of everything he was feeling, wringing gasps from his lungs as he fought for control. It hurt. It hurt so much and he didn't know how to escape the pain, how to get over it, how to let it go. He wanted his life back. Not three days before, he had been living happily with the people who were family of his heart if not of his blood, and it was good. It had been a good life. He was happy with them, so why did it all have to change? Why was it _now_ that he found Roxas? Why did finding the other half of himself lead to so much chaos and suffering? Why?

_Why not?_ Another side of his mind spoke._ This was bound to happen from the beginning. This is the path you've been given to walk. Will you run from it crying because it's not paved with gold and happiness? Will you give up trying to find out what you are meant to be because things are going to be difficult as you go? Is that really what you want? Are you really that weak?_

Sora found himself calming as the thoughts ran through his mind. The pain was still there, but with the sobering reality those words brought for him, he found it easier to find control somehow. This was it. His life was forever changed and there was no going back. He had to face the fact that there would be sacrifices as he kept going. He and Roxas both had to find out what their purpose was—fulfill their destiny—and in order to do that, they would have to face enemies, fight battles, lose friends…it was inevitable.

A weight seemed to settle over his heart, and along with it came a certain strength. He understood now what he had to do and he would accept whatever consequences went with it. If it meant sealing his heart off to protect others from himself, he would do it. If it meant going out to find answers alone, he would do it. Nothing else mattered now, only stopping whatever it was that was threatening the worlds. It was his responsibility. He would not run from it.

-:- -:- -:-

"Where is he?" Riku growled pacing the small sitting room where they were all gathered. It had been almost two hours since Sora ran off leaving them all in distressed confusion. He and Kairi had been waiting for the onslaught of emotions that they knew they would have to contain when Sora realized what had happened. They had been ready for that, knowing that it was only natural that Sora react that way, but to their shock and amazement, rather than releasing those emotions that they could feel building inside of him, he had turned them inward, contained them and ran instead.

Why would he do that?

"He shouldn't be alone right now," Riku persisted, "It's dangerous out there. We don't know what could be waiting for him."

"If he were in trouble we would know," Roxas said tiredly. "He's fine Riku. He'll come back when he feels he's ready."

"And we're just supposed to sit here and wait for him to feel like he wants to see us again? That it?"

"That's exactly it," Naminé said quietly. "We wait for Sora to come back. We can't make progress in anything without him, and he needs to deal with this in his own way."

"Riku, sit down," Kairi said, standing to put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You haven't sat still for five minutes since he left. You're going to ware yourself out."

"_I'm_ fine, Kairi," Riku snapped, shaking her had of. "This sucks for both of us, but we at least were a little prepared for it. We knew that this could happen, have known for years! Sora's the one we should all be worrying about. You, better than anyone, should understand this, Kairi. You _know_ how sensitive he is. He cried for weeks after that stray kitten we found died, and after this he's out there alone! This could _break_ him, Kai. You know this as well as I do!"

"Do you both really think so little of us?" Roxas' quiet voice broke into the argument. "Do you really think that Sora would fall to pieces after this? Shatter like some delicate piece of porcelain?" The room was silent as all eyes fell on the speaking blond. "He left to protect you, to protect everyone here. You're the ones who told him that he needed to control his emotions. That's what he's doing. He's struggling for control. Let him have that. He'll be back when he's ready."

"You know where he is don't you?" Riku accused.

"Of course I know where he is," Roxas snapped back acidly, "and like I said, he's safe. If that changes I'll know, but for now, I'm giving him his space. He needs it right now, so just lay off."

Riku leveled glaring eyes at Roxas, every instinct in him telling him to shake the smaller boy until he told him where to find Sora. Kairi's hand was on his shoulder again and he felt her soothing presence trying to offer calm and comfort despite her still weakened state. He knew that Roxas was right. He knew that Sora would be fine and that he just needed his space for now, but with all that had happened, it was hard being apart from any of his family at all. It felt like everything was slipping trough his fingers and without Sora's there, it was too easy to believe that he was truly about to lose everything.

Taking a shaky steadying breath, he accepted some of the comfort that Kairi was offering and allowed her to pull him over to a couch. One of Merlin's magic tea sets hopped over to offer all of them tea and crumpets, and they all sat, with little appetite, waiting for Sora to return.

-:- -:- -:-

"So what do you think?" asked a tall man with milk-chocolate brown hair, stormy blue eyes and a scar slashing across his face. He pulled the door to the kitchen closed after he and the other man in the room had finished listening in on the discussion taking place between the group of teenagers in the sitting room.

"Roxas says he's fine, and that is all I need," Merlin said, sighing and massaging the bridge of his nose tiredly. "This is a very delicate situation, you understand; a very important beginning for all of them. They must learn to trust each other. Sora is following his heart in this matter, and I do believe he was right to leave when he did. I don't think anyone in that room was quite prepared to give him what he really needed earlier today. They were all far to lost in their own grief."

"And you think that will change by the time he comes back?"

"Oh, it already has," Merlin smiled sadly. "They've already opened to each other. They're just waiting for him to complete the circuit. All will be well, Leon. This is a difficult first step, but one I fear was needed. This will not be an easy task for them to fulfill."

"If it can be fulfilled," Leon mused darkly. "With the way things are going—two guardians lost, Sephiroth on the lose—I'm beginning to wonder."

Merlin had nothing to say to this.

-:- -:- -:-

It was late into the evening by the time Sora made his way back to Merlin's house. The lights were out and he could tell by feeling that most of its inhabitants were already sleeping. Most, but not all.

"I see you finally decided to return, young man," Merlin said, raising his eyes from an old book he was reading. "Our first time meeting in the flesh and you can't even bother to say hello?"

Sora's heart thumped painfully in his chest at the sight of Merlin sitting there in the candle light, glasses perched at the tip of his nose. It was wonderful to see him. It really was, but at the moment, his attitude, posture and position reminded Sora so much of his Godmother that it hurt to even look at him. Taking a deep steadying breath, he turned to the new-found defense he had built to press back the grief and offered a wan smile.

"Sorry about that Merlin," he said stepping into the candle light. "It really is great to see you. I just wish we could have met under better circumstances." He stopped speaking as he felt his throat trying to constrict around his words. He would not cry again. He would maintain control.

"A valiant effort, my boy," Merlin commented eyeing him sadly, understanding the battle that Sora was fighting with himself, "but I assure you, a needless one. You're entitled to your grief just as anyone else here. For you perhaps, it is even more important to feel. You are the heart of your power, and the intensity with which you feel emotion is part of your strength."

Sora blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to fight back the tears but doing so with little success. A warm hand touched his shoulder and that was the last straw. Sora turned into the welcoming arms of his other, sobs wracking his body as he buried his face in Roxas' chest. Strong arms wrapped around both of them closing Sora in from behind, and he recognized the feel of Riku immediately. Gentle fingers ran through his hair and wriggled to get thin arms around his waist and he knew Naminé and Kairi were awake now and with him as well.

Just being there, having the support and love of his friends enveloping him made the whole situation somehow easier to bear. He gasped with a new pain as something in him seemed to give way. The truths that he had realized before still loomed over him. Everything had changed, and they would have to face things that they had never dreamed of in their wildest nightmares, but Sora knew without a doubt, that as long as they stayed together, supported each other, they would manage. Together, they would see this through to the end.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

So there you go. The grieving has happened, they're in a safe place and now the beginning of the story is officially ended. I've been plotting in my head and I now realize that his tale is going to probably be a lot more epic than I initially thought it would be. I'm ok with that I guess…it'll just mean more time before it's finished and that does make me a little sad. I do hate to leave stories hanging. Anyway…I hope to be working on this a bit more regularly in the near future so…we'll see.

Thank you to my faithful reviewers. Truly this story would have stopped a while ago if not for those of you who have expressed a desire to see it stay alive. I love hearing from you, so if you have a moment, please drop a line. Thanks!


	9. Darkness of the Unknown

**Standard Disclaimer: **I often draw Riku and Sora, but that doesn't mean I own them unfortunately, or any of their friends :emotear:

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 9: ****Darkness of the Unknown**

I felt like an ass after my little episode that day; running away from everyone when they all needed me most. I thought I was protecting them, but really, I think I was just protecting myself. Do you know, it wasn't until the next morning that it even occurred to me that Ansem was also gone? Roxas and Naminé had lost the only father they had ever known, and all I could think of was myself. I was completely disgusted with my behavior and made it a mission to make things better in any way that I could. I did my damnedest to be there for the others as much as possible and while the ache was still there, together, it was far more manageable.

The second morning we woke to breakfast cooking and smiling familiar faces who had not made an appearance the day before…well, they were familiar to me at least.

"Aerith! Yuffie!" I cried running to pounce on the two women. It was finally sinking in that I was actually in Radian Garden with my friends! I could really touch them and be there with them. I could hardly believe it.

"It's about time you got out of bed lazy bones!," Yuffie cried returning my pounce full force. Aerith smiled and wrapped me in a warm embrace.

"It's wonderful to finally really meet you, Sora," she said placing a kiss on my cheek. "And I hope you know how sorry we all are for your loss." A knot formed in my throat at her words and I fought back the ache in my heart. It was all still so fresh, so unreal.

"Thanks," I managed after a while, offering my best attempt at a smile. I thought to say something more on the subject but finding it too difficult, decided to switch to safer grounds.

"So where are the others?" I asked. Last time I had come, Leon, Cid, and Cloud were all working on a project that was supposed to help them speed up their building projects. Merlin's house was like a home base for their group and I knew that they should be around.

"Well, the grumpy twins went out to check out something suspicious on the outskirts, and King Grouch Cid's probably over at the hanger playing with his ships," Yuffie supplied helpfully. "They'll all be here around one for the meeting."

"Meeting?" I asked not remembering anything about a meeting.

"Yep, we're supposed to make sure that all of you are up and about by 12 so that we can start planning what to do next." Yuffie said with a gleam in her eyes. From the way she was talking, it seemed like she knew a lot about what was going on which meant…

"So wait," I said trying to fully grasp the implications. "You guys have been in on this all along? All the times I've been here, all the things we've done together, and no one bother to tell me that I could world jump for a reason?" Yuffie cringed like she'd been caught in a lie and Aerith just smiled sadly.

"We were told not to tell you Sora," she said in that gentle tone of hers. "There were things happening bigger that any of us cold understand. We were told that you needed to find out on your own or we would risk making things worse than they already were."

"And it's not like that's something that comes up in casual conversation," Yuffie piped in. "'Hey, nice weather we're having, yeah? By the way, you're potentially one half of a human dooms day device.' Doesn't really work so well."

I couldn't help but laugh. I always did like Yuffie. She was so carefree and energetic and had a way with words that I really appreciated. She didn't tip toe around issue like a lot of people did, and it was refreshing to know that at least someone was willing to be blunt with me. I couldn't really bring myself to be truly annoyed by the situation either because it was true. That wasn't something you just casually dropped on someone, and if they were told not to tell, who am I to be pissed at them for following orders?

"Do I smell bacon?" a groggy voice said from the doorway of one of the rooms we were using. I looked up to see a sleep tussled Riku wandering into the kitchen yawning, Roxas dragging his feet behind him. It was weird to me how normal everyone was acting. I don't know…I guess after something like this happens you think that the world should come to screeching halt for as long as it takes for the hurt to go away, but life doesn't really work that way I guess.

With everything awake in me now, I could literally feel the emotions that Riku was keeping tightly in check, and well Roxas…I don't even have to say anything about Roxas. We practically share a psyche. That should say enough about how well I could read him. Still…here we were, chatting lightly as we all shuffled around getting things set up for breakfast.

"I'll go get Kairi and Naminé," I offered heading towards the room they were sharing. I could tell from the ripple of emotions coming from their door that they were inside talking about something serious, but I could only guess at what. These new feelings were so weird to me. It was really hard to understand all that was going on. Kairi said that I affected the emotions of the people around me, but then apparently it went both ways too. I could easily feel everything that everyone around me was feeling without even trying, but also, it was weird to me that it didn't seem to bother me much. You'd think that with everyone's emotions hammering away at me all the time I'd go nuts or something, but I seemed to be fairing ok so far.

"Kai, Namine," I called lightly knocking on the door. "Breakfast is ready. We're about to eat."

"We'll be out in a second Sora," Kairi called back to me, and I returned to the other room to sit at the table while we waited. No one was saying anything…

"So, have you guys been introduced yet?" I asked to the group at large attempting to break the awkward silence..

"Merlin told us to stay out of dodge yesterday, so this is our first time seeing these guys," Yuffie piped in as usual. I did my best not to show it, but Roxas looked at me. We both had caught that. Merlin had probably been expecting things to be pretty rough around here yesterday had told the others to stay back. Maybe I hadn't been completely off base in distancing myself after all.

"Well, allow me," I offered with the best smile I could muster. "Yuffie, Aerith, meet Roxas my…uh…other, Riku…I guess he's sort of like my brother?" the girls chose that point to make their appearance. "And then Kairi's the redhead and I guess she's like a sister, and then Naminé who is Roxas' sister…sort of and then probably my sister by association since she's his sister and also the other half of Kairi who is also sort of like my sister…sheesh…I never realized how confusing all of our relationships are before!"

"Allow me to simplify," Riku spoke up, "Kairi and I are the guardian's assigned to Sora. Kairi was split, and her other half Naminé was assigned as a guardian to Roxas. Easy." He folded his hands behind his head. A familiar smug smirk tugging at his lips. "You always did over complicate things Sora."

"Well, fine, if you want to be all technical about it," I pouted, happily falling into the familiar banter, "but my way lets them know that we're family. I like it better that way."

"You would," he said smiling, and I could feel his warmth radiating to me. It filled me with a peace I can't really describe and I returned the smile full blast.

"Alright, you two," Naminé broke in. "I think you've demonstrated your affection well enough, the rest of us are starving."

"Sorry, sis," I teased, and Naminé beamed brightly at that.

"Watch it," she said, "I could get use to hearing that from you."

"Hey!" Roxas called from her side. "Are you saying you prefer him over me?!"

"How can I?" she countered. "You're the same person."

"And with that, I'm digging in," Kairi said diving for the bowl of scrambled eggs that were on the table. Aerith and Yuffie just sat back and watched us and I could feel a kind of contented warmth coming from them both, but it was tempered by a sense of sadness. I could only wonder at what specifically could be the source; the tragedy that we had all already faced, the knowledge that moments like this wouldn't be able to last, or the fact that the future held only darker times than those which had already come. I chose to ignore that question in favor of biscuits as they were passes around.

-:- -:- -:-

Merlin literally appeared out of thin air in the house about 20 minutes before the clock would chime 1pm. The group had taken the time they had during the day to get to know each other better as they soon figured out that they would likely be spending a great deal of time together over the next unforeseeable future. No one else had come to the house since they had awakened—a fact that had Sora a bit confused and upset—but Aerith explained that they were investigating something relating to the problems that their world was having due to the darkness. This caught everyone's attention immediately.

Aerith declined elaborating on the topic further until the others had arrived, so the group had busied themselves getting to know the town a bit and trying to get back on their feet after the events of the previous day.

When Merlin arrived however, everything else was dropped and faces that were maybe laughing or joking before fell suddenly serious.

"Well now," the old wizard huffed upon seeing the reaction to his arrival, "if this is the kind of greeting I can expect for the duration of your stay perhaps we need to reconsider this arrangement." The gathered teens had the decency to look a bit chagrined but the moment was broken when the front door burst open admitting a stocky blond man who looked to be about in his mid forties. He was covered in streaks of grease and oil and had an unlit cigar stub clutched between his teeth.

"Cid!" Sora exclaimed launching himself at the man without a second thought. Cid was caught completely off guard as the flying ball of boy landed on him and he looked down at the brown spikes that were attached to his shirt.

"Sora? That you?!" he barked out with a small glower. Sora stepped back with a winning smile.

"In the flesh,"

"Well shit," he grumbled gruffly, a smile pulling at his lips. "They told me it was true but I didn't believe it until now. How the hell are you kid?!"

"We've all be better," he admitted with a sad smile, but allowed it fall away almost immediately. "But hey! Come meet everyone!" he said excitedly, indicating his group of friends where they were standing and watching the scene. Sora was about to launch into explanations again but was halted by Aerith.

"Maybe we should wait until everyone is here," she suggested. "That way you can just introduce everyone at once."

"Besides," Cid said walking off towards the bathroom, "I need to wash some of this shit off first." Sora looked down at himself, realizing finally that hugging at Cid might not have been the best idea in the world. His white shirt and blue shorts were now covered in splotches and he noticed more than a few on his skin, too.

"Great, now I have to take another shower," he grumbled to himself.

"Unfortunately," Merlin piped in, "that will have to wait until after the meeting." As he said this, Two tall figures entered the house, one with spiky blond hair who was several inches shorter that the scar-faced brunet.

"Cloud! Leon!" Sora was pouncing again, this time finding it a bit more difficulty as he was attempting to tackle two targets at once. He was however greeted warmly by both men who each offered a rare, soft smile to their friend.

"We're glad you're safe Sora," Cloud told him with and affectionate tussle to his hair.

"Hey, I told you guys I'd find you one day, didn't I?" Sora said, boastfully crossing his arms.

"And we never doubted it for a moment," Leon offered as he guided Sora to the rest of the group where Merlin had caused the small kitchen table to grow a couple of sized in order to accommodate all of them.

"Yes, yes. All of this is very good indeed. Everyone is here now so we should be able to get things started."

"Could you wait a fuckin' minute!" Cid's voice called from the bathroom. Merlin spared only a slightly irritated glance in the general direction before continuing.

"Now, as I'm sure you have all figure out by now, this will be the first of several meetings we will be holding to plan the best course of action for the future in order to assure the highest protection for Sora and Roxas while still allowing them to continue in their quest for answers."

"Really?" Yuffie interrupted, "I actually had no clue that's what was up. I just though you wanted to make sure that everyone knew everyone else." The other teens in the circle nodded their heads in agreement, blank looks on their faces, and Cid chose that moment to storm out of the bathroom, splashing and dripping water all over.

"I thought I asked you to wait a fuckin' minute!" he growled, glaring at Merlin. The wizard released a long-suffering sigh as he slowly massaged his temples.

"Well now that you are here, Cid," he said exercising a fair amount of patience and control, "please have a seat and join the rest of us." Cid grumbled, gnawing viciously on his cigar stub as he plopped himself onto a stool next to Leon.

"Now, as I was saying, this will be the first of a series of planning meetings. We won't all be present all of the time, but for this first meeting, I thought it best that we all become acquainted with each other as we will be trusting our lives to the hands of the people in this room." The words had the desired effect of re-enforcing in everyone's mind just how serious the situation was.

"Now, beginning with introductions. You will all be working very closely together over the next several weeks to ensure that this location remains secured. Riku, Kairi and Naminé are the guardians assigned to protect Sora and Roxas now." Merlin said, indicating the group of five teens who were sitting together on a couch. "Do not discount them for their age. Each has a unique gift that makes them invaluable in their positions and have been training in the arts for their entire lives." The older individuals present looked to the group of teenagers with new respect and Merlin nodded his approval as he noticed this.

"Cloud, Leon and Cid along with Yuffie and Aerith who you have already met, are the primary guardians of this world," he said calling attention to the older males in the room. "they will be major parts of your training boys," Merlin said sternly to Roxas and Sora.

"And don't think we'll go easy on you just because we like you," Cloud put in. "the time for fun and games is over."

"We've pretty much figured that out I think," Riku said, cold steel coating his voice. "So if the pleasantries are over, I think that we all deserve some answers." All eyes were on the silver-haired boy whose aquamarine eyes were burning with a fury that was almost painful to those who could sense it beyond his barriers.

"What it is that you would like to know?" Merlin asked. His voice held an air of sad resignation, as if he already knew what question Riku was going to ask—as if he had been expecting and dreading it all this time.

"What was that…_thing_?" Riku spat out, voice shaking with barely contained emotion. Memories of their battle were flooding back to him, and while the images invoked were difficult to relive, the feeling of wrongness that was brought on by the coming of that creature who looked far too much like Riku was enough to make him feel ill again. "Why does it affect me the way that it did? Why does it feel so much like me?"

Merlin looked over at the boy with sad eyes, face looking somehow older than it had a few moments before. It was clear that this was not news he relished sharing.

"The reason that creature looks and feels and affects you so, Riku," he said, speaking directly to and only to the silver-haired teen, "is because he _is_ you."

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

So the big mystery about Seph and Riku's connection is revealed! Wow…who saw that coming? Anyway, it'll be explained next chapter. Show some love, drop a review.


	10. The Corrupted

**Standard Disclaimer: **_YOUR MOM_ OWNS KINGDOM HEARTS!!! Actually, she doesn't, and neither do I…

**Note:** Sorry for the wait! Enjoy.

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 10: ****The Corrupted**

"…_because he _is_ you."_

I think my brain must have taken a short vacation. Everything sort of went blank for a time, and when I came back into myself both Sora and Kairi were by my side, Kairi connecting to the energy of my heart, offering support, and Sora doing the same just by being there. I don't know why I was acting so surprised. It's not like he had told me something I didn't already know.

Every being in existence has a unique energy about them and for those of us with Power, it is even stronger and more pronounced. We all have barriers present to protect our hearts and minds from outsiders, but for those of us who could read barriers, it was easy enough to distinguish between separate individuals even if we couldn't look beyond and see into their core.

The power that had touched me had been my own. I had known that the moment I felt it, but it still didn't make any sense. I knew it was mine, but it was…dirty, tainted somehow. My strength lies in dark energy, which is by nature crude and corrosive, but that power…it had gone beyond simple darkness…there was something deeper about it…something twisted. Still somehow, it was mine. I didn't understand…

"Explain."

The voice and ripple of ice both came from Kairi, who I'm sure, connected to my heart as she was, had no problem reading my confusion and distress. Merlin looked to us calmly and I thought I detected a hint of doubt, a shadow of distrust flitting just behind his eyes. I didn't need to pry apart his thought barriers to figure out what was going through his mind. He didn't trust us with Sora, or more precisely, he didn't trust me.

For some reason that I still don't fully understand, that sparked an irrational fury in me, and before I fully realized what I was doing, I was on my feet calling the darkness to me, allowing it to rush beyond all of my barriers and saturate me to my core, filling me with sweet, abundant power. I knew that my eyes were flooded with it, leaving only my irises, thin rings of aquamarine in a sea of black.

"_You question my right to protect, old man?"_ My voice when I spoke was not mine alone. The power had me, cradled me; offered me strength far greater than anything I could ever be on my own. _"If you doubt my competence, stand and fight. I'll show you who among us is better qualified!"_

"It is as I feared," he said in answer to my challenge, and suddenly it occurred to me just what I was doing and where I was doing it. I allowed the darkness to fall away from me and I look to the faces around the room trembling at my core, which felt cold and small in the absence of the power that was once there.

Sora was on his hands and knees on the floor, visibly trembling. A puddle of vomit pooled beneath him, Kairi and Roxas both at his side trying to steady him. I could feel the shields that both Kairi and Naminé had built around his heart and mind, protecting his very vulnerable foundations. I forgot that he hadn't learned to protect his core yet, and he more than any of us is particularly vulnerable to the darkness.

How could I have been so _stupid_? Calling all the dark energy in almost the entire fucking town to be concentrated in me, inches away from him. I could have seriously hurt him; damaged his mind, tainted his heart. That had been one of my most advanced arcane techniques. Why the _hell_ did I do that?!

"Sora, I—" I don't know what to say to him. He didn't even realize what happened, his eyes still dazed, recovering from the onslaught. He had no clue how close I came to accidentally destroying him.

Suddenly I didn't feel so well either, and Naminé rushed to my side as I walked away from the circle, confused and ashamed. What was wrong with me?

"Come back and sit Riku," the old wizard called, and I turned to look at him. I couldn't even guess at what was reflected in my eyes. There was too much going on inside of me. "It's alright lad. Sora is fine. I suspected this might happen so he was honestly never in any true danger."

That took a moment to sink in, for all of us I think because a beat later, we all were asking for elaboration. Merlin waved me back to the circle and a cup of tea makes its way to me. He had also called a mop and bucket to clean up the mess as Kairi and Roxas helped Sora back into his seat.

"Sit everyone, sit," the wizard told us. "This is a bit of a story to tell and it's not a pleasant one for the most part, I'm afraid."

He smiled at all of us as we complied, Roxas not leaving Sora's side, and we waited, watching him expectantly as stillness filled the room.

"It was I suppose about fourteen years ago when this all began," he sighed, eyes taking on a far-off gleam. "I'll never forget the day that Master Yen Sid contacted us requesting that Lord Ansem take on the responsibility of guarding one half of the mysterious child that had appeared on the Axis.

"Wait," Naminé interrupted. "You mean that Ansem was from here? From this world?"

"That's right, child," Merlin told her approvingly. "Which also means—"

"That this is where we're from originally." The realization crashed over me like a wave of molasses; slowly, vaguely uncomfortable and clinging even after its passing. I had never really had a reason to think about where real home was, my entire purpose and existence revolving around Sora for as long as I could remember, but now…. We were home. Maybe there were families waiting for us somewhere. Real mothers, real fathers, maybe even siblings! I looked to Kairi, reading the same excitement in her that I felt building in me.

"Allow me to finish before we touch on that subject," Merlin said, putting a quick end to the tangent that was clearly about to take place. "Now, where was I?" he took a moment to riffle through his thoughts. "Ah yes; the day that Ansem agreed to be your guardian, Roxas. It was all very exciting, really. Almost like a shot at early retirement. He would get to go off to another world, escape his responsibilities here, all while contributing to a worthy cause; saving the world from a potentially great threat. All he had to do was gather a couple of likely candidates to become companions for the child and all would be settled."

"And how exactly was he supposed to do that?" Roxas asked, still supporting a tired looking Sora. A fresh wave of guilt flashed through me and I did my best to focus back on the story being told.

"Well, understand, lad. Before he left to care for you, Ansem was reigning sovereign of this land."

"_What?!"_ The moment could have been rehearsed for how we all asked the question at once.

"Well…I see they were serious about keeping you all completely in the dark." Merlin chuckled, removing his glasses and polishing them with a handkerchief. "Yes, yes…Lord Ansem was ruler of this world, and for that reason, it was rather simple for him to have all children 3-years-old and younger investigated in order for him to determine which might best serve as future guardians for the child.

"That was at the beginning of the darker times when dark energy was just beginning to corrupt the lives of the people living here. Many children were stillborn, others with mass birth defects. Some mothers went mad and killed their own children, others, so lost in mourning after the death of a child that they simply wasted away."

He paused for a moment in the stillness of the room as he re-gathered his thoughts. I looked to Kairi and knew that we were probably thinking the same thing. The chances of our parents still being alive, if that was the environment we were born into, were pretty slim.

"It was pure luck that brought you to us, Kairi," he said looking to her with a paternal smile. "Really, there wasn't any searching to be done in your case. You were born in the castle where Ansem once resided. Back then, the great monstrosity was a place of light. It was one of the few lasting places that seemed to be protected from the darkness. From the moment you were born, your parents could sense the light in you and they wanted to protect that light no matter the cost. This world was falling; we all knew it and we all were doing our best to prevent it, but it was only a matter of time. Both had already been tainted even before you were born. It seemed that your light was the only thing sustaining your mother because the illness spread as soon as you were born. When Ansem put out word that he was looking for children for a special assignment that would take them far from here, your parents immediately volunteered you. They knew that they wouldn't be around much longer to protect you and wanted to give you the best chance at freedom from this the darkness they knew of."

Kairi seemed to shrink a little at his words, and my heart stung in sympathy with hers. Her parents were dead then. There was no hope of locating them, no grandparents, no siblings, nothing. This made me realize that the same was likely true for me as well. I looked to Sora, Kairi, even Roxas and Naminé with new appreciation. They were really it. They were the only family that I would ever likely know.

"As for you Riku, you were found in a place where no child should have been able to survive. I'm sorry, son, but your mother passed in childbirth, alone in one of the most tainted regions of the city. By all logic, you, too, should have died under those circumstances, but somehow you didn't. Someone heard you crying from inside the small hovel where your mother had lived. When those with enough Power to fetch you without risking themselves found you, they were amazed to see that you were in no way affected by the dense dark energy that surrounded you. Ansem knew immediately that you were the second to be assigned to protect the child."

I didn't really feel much at that revelation. I mean, it's not like I'd ever known the woman, but there was a pang of sadness for her knowing that my mother had died alone, and knowing that she had died bringing me into the world.

"So then what does all of this have to do with that psycho who attacked us?" Sora asked quietly. I was relieved to see that he looked worlds better than he had after my little outburst.

"Well, that's where it gets a bit complicated," Merlin replied, and I swear that I could see the creases in his face deepening with his frown. "Another thing that you all may or may not have known about Ansem is that he was a bit of scholar." I noticed the flinches from Naminé and Roxas both at the use of past tense in reference to their guardian. "He had a near insatiable thirst for knowledge, and the biggest question at the time he was ruling here was how he could stop the darkness and protect his people. Finding you was like a miracle Riku. Understand that everything that he did was for the greater good of his people and done in hopes of allowing you a normal life elsewhere."

I felt a chill run down my spine. He was trying to soften a blow that had yet to land, but I could still feel it rushing towards me at break-neck speed. This wouldn't be good.

"You know, Riku, that you are the only Renegade Dark in existence who has managed to maintain his sanity, correct?" I nodded. Gran had taught Kairi and I about Renegades early on in our training. Power of all kind is dangerous, especially to those aware of it and with the ability to tap into it. Because if this, it needs a container of some kind to keep it stable. Some use blades, others staffs, but really, anything can work. There are many who store power in their clothing and it can be readily called to them should the need arise. Renegades choose to use their own bodies as the containers for power, allowing its raw energy to move through them at all times. This goes against every law of magic that exists—hence, Renegades—and puts everyone around them at risk as, in almost every case, the power becomes too much, eating away at them from the inside, and the Renegade goes nuts. From what we learned, people have only ever been able to do this with dark power, light being too scarce and pure to reach a point where it could potentially go out of control. Those who chose the path of light protected their power very carefully.

Somehow, I was born a natural Renegade with an affinity for darkness. Because of this, I can call power to myself with a thought, no need for symbols or containers. My strength is limited only by how much dark energy there is present for me to tap into. It was a blessing that allowed me to keep Sora safe and protected. I never really had reason to question it before.

"Well, I hope that you realize just how rare and important your gift is," Merlin continued. "Can you even imagine what someone like you could be used for? You're the ultimate weapon against the darkness. You can call it to yourself, send it away, take it in and manipulate it like no other in existence. We didn't know all of this in the beginning, but just the potential of a child that could resist the darkness was enough to spark Ansem's scientific interest."

"So what did he do?" The question came out as a whisper from my throat, but it sounded loudly in the room, which seemed to have turned into a vacuum as everyone held their breath waiting for the wizard's response.

"He cloned you."

This was his simple, obvious, terrible answer. A lot went through my head at once, most of it confusion. The clones that I had learned of were magical; insubstantial illusions meant to confuse enemies. What did he mean Ansem had cloned me?

"I heard what you said, but I don't think I'm understanding," I told him, doing my best to stay calm. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ansem had been investigating a technique that allowed the production of a corporeal clone of an individual. The theory was worked out by the head of his research department, a man named Xehanort. He is also the one who was left to continue the research once Ansem left to take care of Roxas. As one of the wizards of this world and one that Ansem trusted, he had told me about the project, code-named: Sephiroth. I was to keep an eye on Xehanort and take the boy under my wing should the experiment prove successful. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be. As soon as Ansem left, Xehanort sealed the labs, and nothing any of us did could break his wards.

"No one really knows what happened in those behind those doors. The man had enough supplies to stay where he was for almost a year without coming out to restock. All we know is that almost three months to the day after the lab was sealed, madness erupted from the castle basement, and instead of the child I had been expecting, a full grown man emerged from the wreckage, a single black-feathered wing stretching from his back. He was insane. Destroyed everything and everyone who was in the castle at the time. It took all of our most powerful to stop him, but still he escaped, vanishing into the night. Xehanort was never seen again, and the castle has been left abandoned ever since."

Silence. Always the same silence. I was actually starting to get a little sick of it.

"So that's it?" I asked testily, happy to be the one to break the stillness. "Ansem cloned me and the other me went psycho? What is that supposed to mean? Am I supposed to go nuts too when I get older?!"

"I don't think so, Riku. As I said, no one knows what happened in that lab after it was sealed, but consider this: Xehanort was supposed to be trying an experimental cloning technique. What should have come of it was a child and yet, somehow instead, out sprung a grown man, and Xehanort was never seen again."

I sat scrutinizing the old man for a while letting the words bump around in my head before it all came together with a squelch I swear should have been audible. "You think that he made the clone corporeal by bonding it to himself. He tried to take its energy, _my_ energy for himself!" A wave of revulsion shivered down my spine just at the idea of it. A person's energy was their own! It was the unique property that made up their very essence. The man had been playing with souls! "That is—"

"Twisted? Wrong?" Merlin supplied before I could speak. "Interesting. Isn't that how you would describe the feel of your power when it touched you?"

I had nothing to say in response to that. He was right. That was exactly how I would and did describe it. Disgusting, sickening…and all together unnatural.

"You said something before." I was surprised when Sora spoke up, looking intently at the old man. "Some thing about it being 'as you feared.' Something about Riku. What did you mean?"

I'll admit that I was more than a little shocked that Sora remembered that, especially since by my guess, he should have been on the ground puking his guts out when the comment had been made. _I_ barely remember Merlin saying it.

"Yes, well," he began, adjusting his glasses again. "It would stand to reason to say that Xehanort used some unnatural process to bond Riku's power to himself but likely found that he could not properly contain such power, thus being consumed by it. It would also stand to reason that the effects of this unnatural bonding might still be active, to a certain extent." He paused, and I could feel the room's collective glare on him as we waited for him to continue.

"It therefore would also stand to reason that, as the original source of that energy, you, Riku, would be the one most likely affected by the aftereffects."

"What does that mean exactly?" It was Kairi who asked this time.

"What it means, young lady, is that it is very possible that Riku, too, has now been tainted. His natural defenses against the effects of dark energy may no longer be as sound as they once were."

-:- -:- -:-

Axel walked the streets of the town aimlessly. It was mid-afternoon—not that you could tell that from the position of the sun—and he was bored out of his mind. Three days ago he had been tracking the Key like he was supposed to, waiting for an opening and opportunity to jump in, snag it, and take it back to the others with him, just as they had planned…but of course, when do things ever work out according to plan?

He'd been following the somewhat confusing Key energy signatures when all hell had broken lose somewhere in town, and before he could respond or get anywhere, he felt the world being cut off from the outside…paths being sealed, energy being stopped leaving him locked on this world with no way to communicate with his superiors or track the Key at all.

Well wasn't that just great?

He found himself seeking out things that seemed to resonate with the energy he recognized as belonging to the Key. There were several locations—a sand lot, a clock tower, an ice cream shop—and several people—and old lady with a cat, a group of street thugs, an ice cream vendor—who all held residual energies, but it felt off somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on why.

He'd stumbled across a group of teenagers in a trashed back alley that stank of conflict and chaos, but both had unmistakably powerful ties to the Key. He'd approached the group—two boys and a girl—and asked why they seemed so down. Maybe it was a mark of how out of it they were that they didn't even question why a complete stranger would care at all…or maybe it was just that kind of town. Either way, Axel had gotten some of the answers he needed. He now knew the name of the Key…

_Roxas_

This bothered him still because the name did not ring with the resonating power that he knew it should have. The name should have spoken to the very fibers of his creation…they should have been one and the same, but there was still something off. There was an echo, a hint of what the name was supposed to bring him, but it was off. Why would it be off?

Axel went the next days contemplating this. He acquainted himself with the locals, taking on the identity of a visiting cousin, so no one questioned it when he'd taken up residence in the house where the Key once lived. No one wondered at the questions he was asking, not that he really needed to ask much. It was the talk of the town; the sudden disappearance of an entire family, and the strange destruction of the back ally.

Speculations flew and whispers filled the streets…talk of a black winged angel vanishing from the scene…talk of death descending upon Twilight Town.

For all the morbid whispers in the darkness, the place seemed fine. Fairly standard, with a dark cheerfulness that should have been odd but fit somehow. There were worse places in the worlds where Axel could have been stranded, and probably an ideal place to wait. This was the Key's home. He could feel it in the way the energy of the place seemed to swirl and balance in the places where the Key's energy was richest.

Roxas would return. Axel knew this just as he knew that there was something off about the energy of the Key he was tracking. He would just have to wait. Once the boy came back, he'd be able to answer all of the mounting questions, and after timeless slumber and years of expecting the Key's arrival to no avail, Axel had gotten very good at being patient. He walked the streets of Twilight Town, and turned his heels toward Roxas' home.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Dude! This is so much better than version 1.0! I apologize for the wait, but I think it was worth it. You don't realize how close you all came to having a huge load of lame-ass poo on your hands. It finally feels like an actual plot line and sequence of events is developing. Is it bad that this is chapter 10 and I'm just now feeling that ; Anyway, I hope you liked it. Hopefully I won't be so slow with the next update.


	11. Magical Mystery

**Standard Disclaimer: **Dude, I think I've disclaimed enough…

**Note:** Do you know, that the past three chapters tried to be this one? I'm so glad I finally got here ;

-:-finem-:-

**Dive into the Heart**

**Part 11: Magical Mystery**

My head hurt. I didn't really understand anything of what was going on other than the fact that there was maybe something wrong with Riku. He and Kairi and I had been practically joined at the hip all of our lives and the very idea that something bad had happened to Riku, even if I didn't fully understand what, sent my head aching all the worse. It was getting late, Cloud, Leon and the others form this world seemed to be getting restless, and I just...I just wanted to go home. It didn't help matters that I technically no longer had one.

"Sora," my head snapped up when I heard my name. "I've been trying to get your attention for like, the last minute," Kairi told me, brow creased in concern. "You doing ok?"

"I'm just tired," I told her honestly. "I don't know what happened earlier, but I think it took a lot out of me. I feel like I haven't slept in weeks!" I noticed Riku's flinch at my words and made a note in my head to not talk about that incident around him. I may not know exactly what had happened, but it was clear that Riku had been the center of it somehow.

"We have been speaking for a while now," Merlin spoke up, sipping at a cup of tea. "And I think that this is enough of a foundation to allow all of us to know just what the situation now is."

"Wait, what?" Roxas asked from my side. "We didn't even talk about our next step. What are we supposed to do from here?"

"Well first, I do believe it would be in order for both you and Sora to learn a bit about your Power. That must be accomplished first and foremost before any other steps are taken. You will need to be able to defend yourselves once you leave this place, and it's important, especially for you Sora, that you learn a proper means of attack and defense. All of you will begin training tomorrow morning. That is the primary reason you all are here. This will be a safe harbor for you to rest and practice while you prepare for your journey.

"Riku, Kairi, and Naminé will go with Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith to practice their offensive and defensive magic."

"And what about us?" I asked. "What will we be doing while they're fighting and stuff?

"You will be with me," Merlin said and I swear there was a small light dancing in the corner of one of his eyes. "It's time you learned exactly what it means to have Power, boys."

-:- -:- -:-

Dawn.

Along the horizon, the sun was just beginning its ascent into the sky. Birds that had been chirping in anticipation since long before the sun had even made it's initial approach, redoubled their efforts, raising their voices to hail the waking of day. Day was not the only thing waking at this ungodly hour. In a deceptively small house located in the residential section of the city known as Radiant Garden, the sound of fireworks could be heard, followed promptly by the raised voices of protesting teenagers.

"Rise and shine everyone!" Merlin sang in an entirely too cheery voice for the hour. "Magic waits for no one!" More sparks and colors sped into the room where Sora, Roxas, and Riku were sleeping. "Your enemies won't give you five more minutes!" light flooded Kairi and Namine's room next. "Come come now children! Out of bed!"

Yuffie and Aerith sat watching the spectacle from the kitchen table, Yuffie commiserating with the rumpled and disgruntled teens as they made their way into the lit living room. Riku's hair was a mess over his head, Sora and Roxas both staring around owlishly as if confused why they were awake already.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kairi croaked from her doorway. "What time is it?"

"Just in time to begin your training," Merlin told her brightly. "Now hurry up! Get dressed! Breakfast will be ready by the time you all are done. Cloud, Cid, and Leon will be on their way shortly, and you definitely don't want one of them coming in to get you up." The teens just stood where they were, staring blankly at the old magician. "What are you waiting for?!" he huffed out in mild irritation. "Chop chop!" And with rather unenthusiastic grunts all around, the group vanished back into their respective rooms.

"Merlin, you need a hobby," Yuffie drawled with a yawn. "You enjoyed doing that way too much."

-:- -:- -:-

About and hour and several cups of tea/coffee/cocoa after Merlin's spectacularly craptstic wake-up call, Roxas, Riku, Kairi, Naminé and I were much more alert and finishing up the breakfast Aerith and Yuffie had put together for us. Both of them had left a bit before to make sure that Cloud and Leon and Cid were actually up and about, leaving the rest of us to eat in it's-way-too-early-to-be-awake silence.

"So where exactly is this training supposed to take place?" Riku asked around a mouthful of pancake when we were all mostly done.

"Could you swallow first?" Kairi berated which earned her a full view of Riku's half digested breakfast. I couldn't help but smile at that. It was so familiar, so much like home.

"Ew, grow up," she said pulling a grossed out face. Riku just rolled his eyes and returned his attention to Merlin who he'd been asking the question to.

"Well, I see that you two really are like siblings," he grumbled before answering. "As for where you will be going, that depends entirely on your instructors. Sora and Roxas will both be staying here with me. The rest of you will just have to wait to see what the others have in store for you." This was said with a distinctly sinister smile that made the others squirm in their seats and me and Roxas smile in relief. At least there wouldn't be many major surprises for us.

"That sounded a lot like 'hurry your asses up and finish eating' to me!" Cid suddenly burst into the room, a long spear slung over his shoulder. There was obvious power radiating from it and I watched as Kairi, Riku and Namine all shared nervous glances. It's only been a few days since I was introduced to all of this stuff, but still, I think I understand what the nerves were all about. This was the real deal. They all may have been training all their lives, but these were seasoned fighters they were about to be dealing with. There was no telling how their skills would measure up.

"What the hell are you sitting around staring at?!" Cid barked again. "If you brats ain't out the door in the next thirty seconds, I'll make sure you all regret it later! Now _move!"_

That got their attention.

"Good luck guys!" I called, waving cheerily after them, laughing at the baleful looks they all shot me. For once, it was really nice to be on the clueless end of things. The door closed behind them and Merlin, Roxas, and I were left in the house alone.

"Well, now!" Merlin said, clapping his hands quickly together twice. Rox and I both looked to him, expecting dishes to come to life and start cleaning themselves, but instead… "Now that the day is officially beginning, you both may begin your training by cleaning up this mess." We both stared at him in shock.

"What?!" Roxas began, very eloquently expressing both of our outrage. "Every other time you just snapped your fingers and had everything clean itself!"

"Now, now. It's no good to question your new mentor," Merlin said rising from his seat. "Make sure to take the garbage out back, wash the dishes, and put them away. I'll be in the sitting room when you're done." And then he was gone, leaving us to deal with the post-breakfast chaos.

It took just under an hour to get things straightened out again, about half that time figuring out where everything was supposed to go. Every time we tried to ask for directions, Merlin had just called back a cheery "I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own, boys!" We were very grumpy and disgruntled by the time we found our way to the sitting room at about 7 in the morning, eyes still heavy from the early hour.

"We're done," I croaked flopping down with Roxas onto the couch in front of Merlin's recliner. "What do you want us to do now?"

"Well, learn of course," he told us, blinking quizzically from behind his glasses. "What else did you think you were here for?"

I met Rox's eyes for a moment, seeing in them the same irritation that was probably showing behind mine before turning back. "And what exactly are we supposed to be learning?" Roxas asked on both our behalves.

"Everything, my boys," was the man's response, and there was part of me that really wanted to shake him for giving an answer like that, but then he continued, and we realized that he wasn't just being difficult. "Absolutely everything indeed, because Power is everything. Power is what created the worlds, Power is what can destroy them. Power is the reason that you were split to begin with; the amazing amount of energy you hold, and the potential for disaster that comes along with it." The air was suddenly very solemn, and I found that I wasn't so tired anymore sitting there listening to the old wizard's words. Roxas also seemed a lot more alert.

"We'll begin with the basics and work our way up, the first and most important question to be answered being, what is Power? Where did it come from? Why can some connect to it while others cannot? There are no easy answers to these questions, but I'll tell you what all the wise fools who have studied it have figured out thus far.

"There are two types of energy in the world: dark and light. Now, contrary to their naming and the ideas that have been perpetuated through fairy stories and what not throughout time, there is nothing inherently good or evil about either energy. Those with Power tend to have affinities for one greater than another, but we are all capable of using both. Dark energy is the most abundant. It is the easiest to obtain, but also the more dangerous of the two for those who choose to use it in its raw form.

Light energy is far more rare in comparison, but it is also far less likely to be consumed by light due to its limited supply. Dark energy is less efficient, you see. It takes more of it to do simple tasks than it would for light, so while a very small amount of light energy would last you for weeks and weeks, the same amount of dark energy would only last you a moment. Are you following me so far?"

We nodded in tandem. I could completely feel the thoughts moving through our minds as Merlin spoke, this weird sense of _knowing_ flooding me as the ideas came together. "It sounds sort of like cold-fusion versus crude oil," I mused aloud. "Even refined, it takes gallons of oil just to run a single car, but with cold-fusion, just a glass of water would provide enough energy to power an entire city."

Merlin looked mildly impressed, nodding approvingly, and I stifled a sigh. I don't know why, but for some reason, everyone assumes I'm some kind of idiot or something. People always seem to be impressed whenever I spout anything even remotely intelligent, then usually either try to cover up their surprise or start with the embarrassed apologies. "Well I'm glad to see that that goofy exterior of yours is protecting a rather proficient brain."

"Uh, thanks…I think," I wasn't sure if I should be insulted by the 'goofy' comment, pleased by the brain part of it, or just relieved that he wasn't denying his previous thoughts. Choosing to just let things fall as they would, I settled back into the couch to continue listening to what Merlin had to say.

"So then, what is Power then? Where does it come from?" Roxas asked. "Didn't you say that that was the most important question?"

"Yes, I did," Merlin huffed in reply, "and I also said that there was no easy answer, now let me finish. I was getting there. Now, as I was going to say next, those who have been studying have found a very strong link between Power and emotion. The illness that I spoke of yesterday, the one spawned by people's exposure to the darkness, is, in general, more of a state of emotional imbalance. This is also why those who dabble too deeply into dark power eventually grow unstable as well."

"So, what, it's like emotional overload?" I asked, trying to fully grasp the idea.

"In small terms, that's exactly what it's like."

The more we talk about this concept of Power, the stranger I felt…like there was something at the back of my mind trying to force its way to the front. The same was happening with Roxas, his mind working just as furiously as my own.

"But," he began after a small pause and moment of concentration, "that would imply that Power was born of…"

"Emotion," Merlin finished for him with a nod. "Very good young man. You've just figured out in minutes what took Power Theorists generations to comprehend."

"But then, you said the worlds were born of Power, right?" Roxas continued, expressing the union of thoughts in our minds.. "If that were really the case, then it would have to be the other way around. There would have been no hearts to feel anything at the beginning of everything, right? So, that would mean that…what we call emotion is actually out hearts connection to Power?"

"Or maybe that we have emotions because of Power," I finished the thought for us. "Maybe it's because of this Power that life evolved the way it did, but then where did it all begin? There has to be an origin, right? A place where Power comes from?" We both looked to Merlin for answers but were greeted only by a mildly flabbergasted stare.

"Well," Merlin said, quickly pulling his face back together. "Isn't that the question? This has proceeded far more quickly that I had anticipated. There are many theories about the origins of Power, but no one can truly know where it all began. The most popular idea at present, supports the idea of a single source of Power for all of the worlds, that perhaps, at one point, the worlds were not separate, and the origin of all Power lay at the center of that one world.

"The Heart of the World." Roxas and I spoke as one, without conscious thought. The rightness of the words was…weird. Neither of us had a clue what they could mean, had no clue where they had even come from, and judging by the penetrating stare that Merlin gave us both, neither did he.

-:- -:- -:-

"Again, Kairi this time," Leon called watching the small group of teenagers run the training drill as he exchanged quick glances with the others. Kairi called a series of complex commands that sealed Riku in a cage of light, effectively cutting him off from any dark energy he might call on, and somehow locked Naminé's hands in place, preventing her from calling any symbols from the air. She moved in to take Naminé out first, surrounding her hand with light energy as she slashed it towards the other girl's face, but Naminé calmly watcher her approach, eyes flashing with Power a moment before Kairi's hand would have made contact, sending the other girl rebounding off of a shield of light, and a moment later, closing her eyes, squeezing her fists and breaking the hold that Kairi had on her. Kairi was already on her feet again, turning towards Riku who was likely the greater threat if he broke free of her binding, but of course, he had not been idle while Kairi was distracted by Naminé. A small spot of dark had already formed in the cage of light, and though Kairi called reinforcing Power to contain him, it was clearly only a matter of time before he'd break free. Naminé was on her then, calling blades of light down from above. Gauging the strength of the attack, Kairi simply called out "Null!" promptly countering whatever Power had been directed at her.

Just then, there was a concussive release of dark energy and Riku was free. Without pausing, she called a shield to herself, moments before Naminé send a lock on her vocals and Riku send a blast of power at her. The shield protected her from the main force of the attack, but she now had to redirect her concentration to maintaining it and breaking the lock on her voice. One of the downfalls of symbology magic. Fortunately, it looked like Kairi knew how to compensate for it.

Even as Naminé was preparing a complex image drawn in the air with lines of light, and Riku was setting up to land a massive strike on her as well with dark energy, Kairi's fingers moved to her neck, drew a small 'x', then she was screaming a counter just as the other attacks were falling on her.

There was a large explosion of energy as all the spells collided, sending dust and debris into the air, obscuring the three combatants from their mentors observing from their vantage point on the cliffs above the great maw. A few moments later, the dust cleared revealing the three teens all on the ground laughing at each other in exhaustion, faces smeared with dust and soot.

Leon made a small nod with his head, and Cloud, Yuffie, and Cid all launched themselves at the still recovering teens. Riku was the first to respond, leaping up to put up a dark shield to block Cloud's slashing blade. Kairi sent a blast at Yuffie, but the ninja easily dodged, launching her shuriken at the other girl. Naminé was there blocking the attack even as Kairi turned to defend Naminé's back from Cid, who had been coming up from behind.

Riku went flying, as Cloud slashed at him repeatedly in one of his more powerful attacks. Kairi automatically sent a healing spell his way allowing Riku to recover in time to deflect another potentially more damaging attack.

"Alright, I think that's enough," Leon called as he and Aerith made their way down into the fray. The group stopped immediately Riku, Kairi and Naminé all falling to their knees in the rubble exhausted. Aerith went to them with water and healing spells at the ready.

"I'm impressed," Leon told them directly. "I should have expected as much from you considering who was responsible for your training and the task that you've been trusted with, but the fact remains you've never had any actual experience in battle, yet your endurance is good, reflexes solid, and you seem to have a extensive understanding of your own Powers and their limitations as well s each other's."

Leon gave them all firm nods, and they seemed pleased with each other.

"Still, there are a lot of cracks in your foundations, areas where you all need work. Kairi, Naminé, your symbols are solid, but you both need to become more comfortable with using your Power without manifesting them. If you go broadcasting to an enemy that you need your hands or voice to do magic, that will make you both easy targets and it takes you way too long to gather your concentration for unmanifested spells.

"Riku, you have strength, but you need to brush up on your theory. Shields and attacks are fine as long as you have one of these two with you," he gestured at Kairi and Naminé, "but on your own, you're going to need to learn some of the subtler ways to manipulate your Power."

The group listened to him solemnly and Leon nodded his approval. They already knew how to listen and there were no signs of discouragement on any of their faces. This would be a good group of pupils, he decided.

"Alright, Riku, you're with Aerith. Naminé, you'll be working with me and Yuffie while Kairi goes with Cid and Cloud. We'll meet up at Merlin's for lunch before getting back to work."

"Wait a sec," Riku spoke up suddenly. "No offense, but, did you say that I'm with Aerith?"

Leon smirked. If protests were going to come from anyone, why was he not surprised that Riku would be the one? "You heard me," he said, walking over to Yuffie and Naminé. I'll see you all in a few hours." And with that, they broke, scattering to various parts of the desolate landscape.

-:- -:- -:-

Merlin was… speechless didn't even begin to describe it. Sora and Roxas absorbed and processed information faster than he had imagined possible. After spending considerable time contemplating the origins of Power, coming up with theories that would send any academic's head spinning, they had then on their own began speculating on the various uses of Power, forming their own conjectures about the magic that Kairi, Naminé, and Riku possessed.

"So then, if Kairi and Naminé use symbology, and Riku does pretty much whatever he wants," Sora began, "what about us? What kind of power are we supposed to have. Everyone keeps saying that I'm the Heart and Roxas is the Power, but what does that mean exactly? Am I like, Powerless or something?"

"Well, my boy, I'm not one hundred percent certain about that," Merlin told them, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "There wasn't much opportunity to ever really explore your abilities before as we were doing our best to keep you separated from all thing involving Power and magic."

"Is that why Ansem didn't just keep me here?," Roxas asked. "Because there isn't really magic in Twilight Town?"

"That's precisely correct," Merlin smiled at him. "You and Sora both were sent to the two least Powerful worlds that we could locate. Twilight Town was amazingly balanced between light and dark energy, and has somehow maintained it.. It has been the most stabilized of all worlds if reports from Master Yen Sid can be believed. Even Destiny Islands began falling. If not for Riku, you likely would have been feeing much stronger effects from it Sora."

Sora's brow creased as he took in that information, but his expression quickly cleared as he returned to the topic at hand. "Then how exactly do we figure out the nature of our Power then?" he asked, and Merlin chuckled lightly at him.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to get this far at least until tomorrow, but as you boys seem such fast learners, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to find out now and maybe practice a little while we prepare lunch for the others."

This time, the boys didn't even blink at the mention of working. Merlin reached for a bag, and after tossing several items from it, finally pulled out what looked like an old camera.

"Now first, well just see if we can get a basic read on you two; gauge the balance of light and dark in you." He raised the camera, pressed a button and in a flash of smoke and sparks, took the picture. "It'll just take a moment to develop," he said fanning the smoke way with a hand. A moment later, there was a small chime.

"Ah, yes," the wizard said raising the image for inspection. "Let's see here." The two boys crowded around him to look at the image, and they all paused, staring. Instead of two figures in the image, there was only one, and the one that was there was so covered by light that all features had been eliminated leaving nothing but a large white blur in the center of the image.

"Well! How unusual…"

"What? What's this mean?" Roxas asked confused.

"Well, this camera measures what kind of Power is present in an individual and also, based on the balance of light and dark, shows their natural affinity," Merlin explained. "Apparently, as you two are one entity, it combined you as such, and from this, it would appear that, if you truly are the Power between the two of you, Roxas, it's very likely that you are indeed the only known Radical Light to have ever existed."

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Ha! Who didn't see that coming? Anyhoo, review. Let me know how it's going.


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